From Jan. 27 until Jan. 29, the Stevens Student Government Association held emergency elections for Senate vacancies. The results are in: the new Freshman Senator is Jared Hobbie, the new Sophomore Senators are Patrick Sobota and Melanie Caba, and Anthony Piccone is one of the new Junior Senators. Trevor Batchelder, Jonathan Alarcon, Andy Waldron, and Sally Goode are the new Senior Senators.
In addition to Piccone, there will be another Senator resulting from a Reopen Nominations election. Essentially, the slot on the Junior Ballot that said “Reopen Nominations” got more votes than any one of the candidates did, and so more elections will be held from February 3 until February 5.
The emergency elections, despite how they may sound, are more commonplace than many may believe them to be, according to SGA President Tommy Daly. Daly said, “There is an emergency election at the onset of almost every Spring Semester. This is because the President frequently appoints senators to their cabinet and they are therefore forced to resign from their senate seats.”
Daly appointed three Senators, but there are also other reasons for the elections. Vice President Cat Oesterle said, “From semester to semester, schedules change and some Senators can no longer fit SGA in their busy schedules, so they reluctantly have to leave.” Daly added, “There were a few senators who received prestigious executive board positions in their respective Greek organizations that led them to leave the senate.”
None of the reasons for the elections included a decline in SGA membership, contrary to popular belief. Oesterle stated, “I do not believe there has ever been a decline. In 2015 and 2016, we had a record amount of Freshmen run for their respective open Senate seats.” Daly furthered that comment, stating, “Our most recent Freshmen elections had nineteen individuals running for eight spots.”
Despite the emergency elections going on this week, Daly and Oesterle are very optimistic about their plans for SGA and for Stevens. Oesterle said, “With the emergency elections, we were lucky to get very passionate and hard-working Senators, who will only improve our ability to effectively represent the student body and improve your student experience.”
Daly added, “I am incredibly excited to see what each of them can accomplish.”
Be First to Comment