While 18 student senate seats had no contenders at the beginning of Student Government elections two weeks ago, just four were left vacant Wednesday night due to a big push for write-in candidates. More than 30 students signed up after the Feb. 13 deadline to run for the senate, almost half of which were from public health.
This year, the Elections Commission took a different approach and required write-in candidates to sign up in person in order to be considered, a shift from previous years where anyone could be written in and earn a seat.
Another shift in Student Government as of this year is the addition of a speaker of the senate position.
"I think it's going to offer a tremendous opportunity for [Student Body President-elect Taylor Wright] and the next vice president to both be focused on student initiatives," Student Body President Ross Lordo said of the new position. "I think you'll see an even greater output and even further focus on communications and a greater effectiveness and efficiency in Student Government than has ever previously been possible."
With the old system, the written-in candidates ranged from Cocky to Harambe. Some students would even win senate seats without being aware they were getting votes, only to be informed after the fact that they'd won. Last year, more than 100 people were written in for a College of Arts and Sciences senate seat. None of the write-ins won.
Elections commissioner Erin Brown says the system change "helps increase overall awareness about the process.
"I can explain to them, 'OK, this is how you vote, this is what it means to be a write-in candidate, that means you need people that are voting for you to type in your name," Brown says. "It's ... simple things like that that are important to explain to people because some people think declaring their write-in candidacy itself is taking the seat when it's really not, it's just them becoming a candidate."
First-year nursing student Nevada Leslie said that she heard of the write-in option from her sorority sisters, decided to run and ended up earning a position representing the College of Nursing.
"I was involved in student government in high school and I absolutely loved it," Leslie said. "So getting to be a part of it and make a difference on campus I'm really looking forward to."
Brown reached out to the administrators of each eight colleges that originally didn't have enough candidates, including six with no candidates at all. She also advertised in the university-wide newsletter encouraging students to write in.
"I'm actually super, super excited about being able to represent ... my major in this," said Hope Connell, first-year sport and entertainment management student. She was elected to a senate seat for the College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management.
"On freshman council I was on the athletic committee, but this is specifically for my major and I'm really, really excited to give the people a voice," Connell said.
As a result, 16 of the 48 senators elected Wednesday night were write-ins. Four senate seats will be filled by the powers and responsibilities committee of the 110th senate once it begins meeting in April.