The USM Student Government is holding elections Monday through Wednesday this week for the upcoming 2010 school year.
Students will choose a new student body president as well as 18 student senators.
The Senate oversees various proposals and monetary requests, and also takes official stances on policies. “The administration turns to student government for student representation and are frequently asked to sit in on meetings about restructuring,” said Molly Dolby, elections commissioner and chair of the student senate. According to its constitution, the Senate also makes recommendations in different areas such as discipline, housing, food services, and recreational facilities.
The senate seats are broken down into specific representatives. Eight seats will be available for commuter representatives, five will be available for resident representatives, and another five for at-large representatives. At-large senators represent all undergraduate students.
The ballot this year will also contain a referendum question: “Will an increase in online courses at USM improve your educational experience?”
“Our purpose for providing a referendum question is to allow students the opportunity to offer their voice in the quality of their educational experience at USM. We ask that you please answer the question in order for the Student Government to better represent the student voice here at the University. As USM begins its restructuring process, we would like feedback on how to gear our efforts for better student success,” according to a Senate statement on their website.
O’Connor said he believes there will be more votes than last year because of the referendum question. “If you look at the last voting election for Maine, the referendums: legalizing gay marriage and marijuana, Maine broke voting records because of the referendum questions. Of course we don’t expect to break records, but we do think more students will vote,” he said. O’Connor said that it seems most of the voters are people who know the candidates directly.
Last election 443 undergraduates voted out of 7,122, only 6.2 percent. Commuters accounted for 224 of them and 219 were residents.
There are few requirements to run for Senate. Each candidate must be an undergraduate taking 1 or more credits at USM. First year students must have a minimum GPA of 2.5, while returning students may have a minimum GPA of 2.0.To run for Senate or Student Body President, each candidate must submit their nomination papers to the Leadership Development Board. The nomination form includes questions about activities and qualities they plan to bring to the student government.
Six years ago the SGA moved from regular polling to online elections, which O’Connor said has made voting more accessible. “It’s much more efficient,” he said.
In the old system, each person who counted votes had to verify voters’ identities and make sure no one voted twice. Now O’Connor relies mostly on the program used for voting. The SGA currently uses Survey Monkey – a common voting system among colleges. “We’ve tweaked the program to have it work for our advantage and save money,” said O’Connor.
The results will be announced the week of March 28.