By Charles L. Westmoreland
Last year’s Student Government Association elections resulted in a tie for the presidency and a run-off election a week later. This year, however, things will be different. Students needn’t wait for Election Day to learn who the winners are. The presidency and the three vice presidencies will go uncontested in March.
Current Executive Vice President Bill Brammell will move into the president slot next semester. Brammell and his ticket of candidates: Nathan Haney for executive VP, Sowmya Srinivasan for services VP and Alicia Paez for academic VP, can skip campaigning and start planning how to decorate their offices and what issues to tackle when the new term begins.
“Since we know who will hold these positions, when the terms begin we’ll already be rolling,” Brammell said. “It’s helpful to know who will be the top four so early in the year, because this school year is winding down and we can start pushing student issues for next year.”
Current SGA President Ryan McKinley also believes that knowing the outcome for the top positions will be “beneficial in the long run.”
Instead of pushing issues that will be dropped by next year’s SGA leaders, McKinley said he can work with the four members to begin accomplishing certain aspects of their agenda during the remainder of his spring term.
“I don’t think there will be any problems. It will be beneficial to know who’s going to be in office,” McKinley said. “I’ll write down ideas and let them gather to decide what they’ll push. We won’t start things that they won’t finish.”
Having a democratically based group such as the SGA function like an aristocracy is perturbing to many students, especially considering the “elected” officials have power over a $600,000 budget to be used on behalf of all U of L students. With this in mind, Brammell is still confident that the positions are being filled by the most qualified people for the jobs.
“I don’t think this questions the legitimacy of those going into the offices,” Brammell said. “I do see how it could put a negative spin on the election, though.”
“The top four have a lot of experience,” McKinley added.
All four candidates possess years of experience with the SGA, with each holding positions at either the department level or senate.
Currently, there are no plans for an applicant deadline extension.
“The SGA Supreme Court has not yet been asked to extend the deadline,” said Supreme Court justice Michelle Grant. “The deadline is usually a firm deadline; however, if a student shows that they were unable to file within the time period allowed, the student can file an appeal to the Supreme Court asking the court to allow them an extension.”
Grant said she is unaware of any past deadline extensions.
McKinley, Brammell and Grant all said that students wishing to run for positions had ample time to apply.
Grant said this is not the first time executive positions have gone uncontested.
“Some years the elections are hotly contested, while other years they are not,” she said. “There have been examples of uncontested elections of the top four officers in the past.”
One reason Brammell gave for the low competition is student satisfaction with the current state of the SGA and those competing for the senior positions.
“People have been pretty pleased with us,” he said. “Students usually run for these positions when they aren’t happy. We’ve listened closely to students and they’ve seen tangible results.”
Some of the “tangible results” Brammell mentioned were the SGA’s support of online voting, the campus recycling reform, the SGA Block Party and support of numerous campus organizations such as commonGround and L-Raisers.
McKinley said he is doubtful that voting numbers will be affected by the lack of competition for the presidency and vice presidencies. In fact, McKinley thinks the online voting system will “shake things up” during election run-offs.
Despite the lack of competition at the top, other races are loaded with competition at the lower echelons, Grant said. The race for Arts and Sciences Council, for example, includes 19 candidates.
The impact online voting will have on the elections is difficult to predict. The online voting system was still flawed during last year’s elections and traditional polling booths reaped a dismal 8 percent voter turnout, but U of L’s Homecoming election this year saw a 50 percent increase in voter turnout. Students will be able to vote for the elections through ULink this year.
Since the candidates do not have to campaign, Brammell said there are plans to hold forums in a “town hall setting” instead. At these forums the candidates will discuss concerns with various campus organizations.
The four members taking office hope the student feedback will help them plan and prepare for future SGA sponsored events.
Some of the items on the SGA’s agenda for the remainder of the semester are to coordinate with the RSA to promote student involvement on campus, to continue to push campus recycling and to research the implementing of a childcare center on campus.
