In preparation for the student senate’s first fall elections, student government officials printed 2,000 cards. They stuck them under the doors of dorm rooms, leaned them up against school computers, and otherwise scattered them around USM’s campuses.
Even more promisingly, they scored some real estate on the front page of the University’s website and pushed heavily the web address for online voting, from which students could log in and vote online, any time of the day or night.
In the end, 255 students – in a student body of about 10,000 – cast valid votes in this fall’s student senate elections.
Leadership development chair Emily Fitch says the student government office won’t release vote totals per candidate, but points out that the few who put up posters and, most importantly, utilized Facebook easily received the most attention.
The fall elections were part of fresh reforms to the student government that allowed incoming freshman to immediately run for a seat in the student senate. Previously, all seats were filled in spring elections, which last semester drew 600 ballots and just short of 400 valid votes.
Seven openings were up for grabs in this campaign. Two freshman – commuter Brendan Morse, and at-large representative Brian Brooks – became the first to hold senate seats.
Winners Circle
At-Large Student Senate Seats
Brian Brooks
Rose Winegarden
Resident Student Senate Seat
Joshua Adams
Commuter Student Senate Seats
Alex Sargent
Ryan Daly
Brendan Morse
Maggie Guzman (write-in)