(Student Senate election results below)
Question: Are you going to vote in the Student Senate elections today?
“No, I hadn’t even heard about it,” said Jennifer Hennesy, a junior in psychology.
“I don’t know anything about it. I only just saw something in The Free Press, but nothing else,” said Ashley Newton, a senior in women’s studies.
Business administration senior Nick Lelansky said, “I don’t know much about it. There should have been more advertising.” After being accosted by Student Senate Elections Commission member Joe Frechette, senior sociology major Kristin Atherton decided to vote but before the encounter, she confessed, “I didn’t even know it was happening.”
“I probably won’t be voting. I didn’t even know it was going on. I just go to my classes,” said Adrian Schmitt, psychology senior.
After voting ended Wednesday in Gorham at 4:30 p.m., the sole locked ballot box was escorted by two members of the Student Senate Elections Commission to be held overnight at the USM Police Department. The box was brought to the Portland polls the next morning for another round of Student Senate voting.
The turnout was light, and the counting process that took place Thursday afternoon at 5 p.m. took only about an hour.
The final count was 206 votes total, 107 from commuters and 99 from residents. Both residents and commuters voted for at-large seats as well as their own respective constituencies.
The top six finishers for the at-large seats and resident seats and top nine finishers for the commuter seats won spots on the 32nd Student Senate. Freshman Kyle Bouchard of undeclared major won the most votes in the election, getting 83 for his at-large seat. Junior Joshua Dolby and Sophomore Elizabeth Mann got the most votes for the commuter and resident constituencies, respectively, with 58.
Last year over 5 percent of the student body voted in these elections. This year drew just shy of 2 percent of the student body. The current Senate and many of the Senate candidates recognized in the Student Senate meeting April 11 that the tiny outcome of the elections is a problem and the process needs to be reformed. In jest, Parliamentarian Matt Amoroso suggested Chair Leah Wentworth had “drawn a bad poster,” but the roots of the turnout problems stemmed from several different areas discussed by the senators.
The primary problem discussed was the length of the actual elections.
Sen. Dorn McMahon said the current schedule of 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for two days does not serve the non-traditional student nor most of the population of the school.
McMahon said later many students take only one or two classes, and holding elections for a few hours over two days is not conducive for a high turn-out.
A suggestion to remedy this problem was online voting, as recommended by Treasurer Mike Norton.
“Due to the diverse student population at USM, and considering many students take one class at night or on the weekends, we could reach a majority of the students online,” Norton said later. He said the Student Senate is considering funding an online election system which would be outsourced to an online ballot company. He explained that the Senate had begun to research a couple of different companies, and that the actual voting could be coordinated through University e-mail accounts or the personal accounts students use to access Blackboard and other online teaching tools.
In addition to issues of access, the Senate discussed methods of increasing visibility and incentives to vote.
Amoroso suggested the elections of executive board members be included in the popular election to force advertisement by executive board candidates.
Sen. Daryl Morazzini and newly-elected Sen. Elizabeth Mann said that making the elections into an event with a barbecue or band would get students excited.
Morazzini felt strongly that lack of media coverage until the last minute was a strong contributing factor to the low voter turnout this year. Vice-Chair Tyler Stanley said the list of candidates and their views in The Free Press was helpful, and this year was the first time he had seen that extent of Senate election coverage.
In comparing this year’s turnout to last year’s significantly larger turnout, the Senate discussed the lack of referenda this year. Norton said any issues at all on the ballot would have helped “even if it was whether or not to pass a rule that everyone has to wear green shirts on Mondays.”
Dean of Student Life Joseph Austin said having public forums and hearings on issues would help students become aware of the issues at USM. Christopher O’Connor, assistant to the Dean of Student Life, agreed and said, “People are passionate about the issues, if not necessarily about the candidates.”
Many senators agreed that focusing on the issues and bringing them to a public forum would be the first step in greater advertising of the elections and what the Senate does.
Sen. Brian Simpson said the Senate’s Public Relations Committee should do campaigning for the next Senate elections.
The Senate concluded there is a definite problem with the current election system, and the solutions are varied.
Student Senate Election Results
At – Large Candidates
Kyle Bouchard 83 votes
Amanda Smith 81 votes
Stella Lado 80 votes
Brian Simpson 19 votes (write-in)
Patricia Takacs 10 votes (write-in)
John Marshall 6 votes (write-in)
Also receiving votes:
Elise Adams 5 votes (write-in)
Joe Frechette 5 votes (write-in)
Mike Miller 5 votes (write-in)
Sarah Hines 4 votes (write-in)
Josh Dolby 3 votes (write in)
Ezekial Kimball 3 votes (write-in)
Commuter Candidates
Joshua Dolby 58 votes
Ezekial W. Kimball 55 votes
Gretchen Chesley 54 votes
Mike Barden 42 votes
Moses Sawyer 42 votes
Sarah Hines 11 votes (write-in)
Jonathan Gartland 7 votes (write-in)
Garrett Gagnon 7 votes (write-in)
Also receiving votes:
Jeremy Halperin 5 votes (write-in)
Elise Adams 4 votes (write-in)
Beth Davis-Schadler 4 votes (write-in)
Janine Gorham 3 votes (write-in)
John Marshall 3 votes (write-in)
Mike Miller 3 votes (write-in)
John Morgan 3 votes (write-in)
Paul Seed 3 votes (write-in)
Resident Candidates
Elizabeth Mann 58 votes
Ben Strout 49 votes
Benjamin E. Smith 37 votes
Jeremy J. Collette 35 votes
Asher Platts 7 votes (write-in)
Breanna Coombs 5 votes (write-in)
Also receiving votes:
Brian Simpson 4 votes (write-in)
Patricia Takacs 4 votes (write-in)
Abby McMahon 3 votes (write-in)