Voting for the seven open freshmen SGA Senate seats wrapped up Wednesday at noon with a total of 297 votes.
The freshman class has five seats to represent their class in the Senate. The two other seats are for the university college, which is where freshmen start when they come to App.
The new freshmen senators are Emily Hogan, Karolyn Martin, Jeremy Doblin, Aiyana Willoughby and Tyler Gacek.
The university college senator will be Devin Mullins and the other seat remains unfilled.
The election period ran from Aug. 29 to Sept. 5. Fourteen candidates ran for officeJoanna Faith Williams, SGA director of elections, said.
The election for the seven open seats could only be voted on by freshmen but there was also a university-wide referendum to vote on eight amendments to the SGA constitution.
The amendments passed with 211 votes. Seventy-two people abstained from voting and 11 voted no.
“These amendments are meant to improve it,” Lee Franklin, SGA director of external affairs, said. “Our constitution never had a supremacy clause like it never even said that this was the most important document for our organization, which doesn’t make sense for a constitution. So we added that.”
Franklin also said they adjusted the number of votes required by the Senate to remove a person from office from three-fourths to two-thirds, a requirement for the vice president to have one year of student Senate experience and that all Senate committees have to be chaired by senators.
Franklin wrote the amendments but once it went to the Senate floor, senators amended it and made changes.
“I was the author but the Senate played a key role in forming what was on it,” Franklin said.
Williams said she is excited for this Senate because there are so many people asking her questions and expressing interest in the Senate.
Even if someone running for office did not get elected there are still other ways to become part of SGA.
Williams said that anyone can petition in at any time during the year and they will be the first person in line that Williams contacts when they have a position open.
“If they are willing to get themselves out there to declare and run and tell their constituencies and all their classmates about it, if they’re willing to do that and asking so many good questions then I want them to be a part of this so I want to make that possible for them,” Williams said.
To petition to become part of the Senate, students can fill out the 52nd Senate Session Petition form that can be found on the SGA website.
Story by Moss Brennan
