By Allison M. Strickland
Voting for the Student Government Association elections began yesterday and will continue through tomorrow. Although the top four positions are uncontested, students are still encouraged to make their voices heard.
Current Executive Vice President Bill Brammell will be President, Nathan Haney will be Executive Vice President, Sowmya Srinivasan will be Services Vice President and Alicia Paez will be Academic Vice President.
Sean Deskins, an associate justice of the Supreme Court, said that although the top four are unopposed, voting is still important because the senators play a big role in student government.
“The president and vice presidents focus on university-wide policy while senators spend most of their time on their own unit,” Deskins said. “Most senators serve on committees in their units that include hiring committees, admissions and appeals committees, curriculum committees and more. Without senators, students would be deprived of a voice within their academic [department].”
Deskins also said that students should vote because the SGA operates with a $600,000 budget used for student organizations and activities and the senators act as the voice of their departments in deciding how that money will be spent.
“The president and vice presidents cannot spend any money unless the senate appropriates money in a budget,” Deskins said. “Most issues must be approved by the senate to be official. Also, senators are important because they are able to develop close working relationships with academic unit administrators and play important roles in making policy in their units.”
To vote in the SGA elections, students need to log in to ULink and click on “Student Services.” In the first column near the bottom of the page there will be a subheading titled “Web Balloting.” Clicking on “Ballots” will then load the page where voting occurs. After voting, it will say, “All ballots are cast.”
This is the first time the SGA has used online voting. An attempt was made last year to do this but the system was flawed, forcing voting to take place in traditional polling booths. Voter turnout was 8 percent for the 2004 SGA elections, and there are hopes that online voting will increase SGA voter turnout as well.
This year’s homecoming election, which implemented online voting, was up 50 percent from the previous year.
Curtis Creekmore, a freshman Biology major, said he is going to vote in the election, but only for the senators. He said the names of the top four candidates should be removed from the ballot altogether since they are being grandfathered into office.
Nora Schack, an Elementary/Special Education major who is running for the School of Education Vice President, said that students should still vote because those running opposed have put a lot of effort into running.
“It isn’t fair not to vote, because these people really want to have a position,” she said. “If you don’t vote, you are not giving someone the opportunity to help improve the university. One vote really can make a difference.”
Information about the candidates will be available on ULink, where visitors can click on the candidate’s name and view their platform.
