SG senate to hold election
Sixty-two students will run for 25 vacant seats in the Student Government (SG) senate today and Wednesday during a midterm election.
Students can vote by clicking on a link above the Login button on Blackboard. They can only vote for candidates from their respective colleges. Poll hours are from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on both days.
Senate Pro Tempore Matthew Diaz said the 25 vacant seats are considered a “pretty large” number.
There are vacant senate seats in the following colleges: seven in the College of Arts and Sciences, two in the College of Business, five in the College of Education, three in the College of Engineering, three in the College of the Arts, one in the College of Public Health, three in the College of Nursing and one in the College of Medicine.
Initially, senate President Jennifer Belmont was going to oversee the election, rather than the Election Rules Commission (ERC), which won’t be formed until later this month or early November.
SG presidential candidate Christopher Leddy questioned the legality of the election and called for the impeachment of SG Attorney General Cordell Chavis at a senate meeting on Sept. 22.
Chavis told the senate that statutes regarding the ERC did not apply to interim elections.
However, the senate approved a statutory amendment that put SG adviser Gary Manka, SG office manager Judy Pollock and SG graduate assistant Kelsey San Antonio in charge of the election.
Because Chavis approved of Belmont originally running the interim election, Leddy submitted a memo of impeachment on the grounds of “incompetence and malfeasance.”
The senate also voted to refer to the election as a “midterm” election instead of an “interim” election. Interim elections are held monthly to fill any open senate seats, according to SG statutes.
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