In the Ohio University Student Senate elections, students will be able to vote Monday and Tuesday for the candidates they want to see represent them for the 2017-18 academic year.
Voting for the three tickets — Green Light,
The presidential candidate for Green Light is Landen Lama, the vice presidential candidate is Nicole Schneider and the treasurer candidate is Zach Woods. The presidential candidate for Voice is Jordan Kelley, the vice presidential candidate is Keyarah Newton and the treasurer candidate is Dane Hudson. The presidential candidate for Fight is David Parkhill, the vice presidential candidate is Allison Huedepohl and the treasurer candidate is Caleb Cline.
“In this election, I think we have really diverse campaigns,” Chief Justice Hashim Pashtun said. “If you look at Fight, Voice and Green Light I think voting is just making a choice of what kind of leadership you want in Student Senate who are going to advocate for you for the next year.”
Students can vote for senators to represent the green they are living on. If a student lives off-campus, they can vote for
Graduate students can vote for a graduate student senator and undergraduates can vote for an undergraduate senator. The ballots will be automatically filtered accordingly for each
Baker Center will host a polling location just outside the first floor entrance where students can use laptop stations to cast votes. Campaigning in or near the building while voting is open will result in a campaign violation.
“I think (voting is) a responsibility. It teaches us the responsibility of being a good citizen or student or a Bobcat because you are following (through with) your responsibility to make sure that there's an effective leadership in Senate,” Pashtun said.
Last year, a total of 2,097 students voted in the election, compared to the 2015 election when 3,250 students voted, according to the senate's Board of Elections. A referendum took place in January with a turnout of more than 6,500 students, about three times the number of votes in last year's election.
On average, between 2,000 and 2,500 students have voted in elections every year, said Pashtun.
“I'm expecting more voter turnout because there's more involvement of the tickets campaign, it does matter,” Pashtun said. “Due to the events we have had in the past here, be that nationwide or national issues or local issues, I think students are more interested.”
In last year’s election, a glitch in the ballot system may have affected up to 116 votes. Directly after this occurred, candidates were emailed about what was happening.
To prevent an error like this again, the judicial panel has sent out test ballots to the candidates. They are also making sure that the ballots are accurate in terms of giving more options to select when asked about gender, Pashtun said.
“That's our solution ... giving them the option to make sure whatever they prefer (is on the ticket),” Pashtun said. “If they don't let us know, we consider that's right. If there is one, we make sure those corrections are in place.”
The results will be announced Tuesday at the Bobcat Student Lounge between 8-8:30 p.m.
