University students cast their votes on the 2017 LSU Student Government fall election ballot, consisting of major tickets like Connect 2017 and Unite 2017, and Referendum 1, via Moodle on Oct. 30.
The fall election dictates positions in the SG Student Senate, as well as amendments to the LSU Student Government Constitution. While fall elections focus strictly on Senate and amendments, spring elections are focused on the presidential election, said SG commissioner of elections Luke Fruge’.
For the Unite 2017 ticket, the initiatives stem from involving student feedback on various aspects of the University from technology to the new library.
“It’s that we get some student feedback in those new renovations,” said campaign manager of the Unite 2017 ticket and current chair of academic affairs Senate committee Erica Borne. “Whether it be how we use our Student Technology Fee or how [the new University website] can be more useful to students.”
The Connect 2017 ticket similarly plans to focus on initiatives involving student feedback. Their focus with the feedback, though, is on the initiatives which are passed through Student Senate and impact students’ lives on campus, said co-campaign manager of the Connect 2017 ticket and current Center for Advising and Counseling senator Cassidy Riley.
“Our main initiative with this ticket is to bridge that gap that’s between Student Government and the student body,” Riley said. “Oftentimes the students have no idea [about] the legislation we’re passing in Senate, even though a lot of it affects their everyday life.”
Currently, according to the LSU Student Government Constitution, reapportionment of the Student Senate seats happen at the end of the fall semester. Contesting of the fall election results, which happens soon after results are announced, must use the previous year’s apportionment, should a senator need to contest the results. Referendum 1 would allow the opportunity to amend the Constitution so that reapportionment would happen concurrent to the fall election held that semester.
Borne said she thinks that utilizing tickets in fall elections is important because it allows students to find ways to get involved with SG, without such elections students would not normally know how to get involved.
“I think the tickets are useful because it helps with outreach and to get more people involved,” Borne said. “[Being able to] pull people from all different aspects of campus instead of just the same people running over and over again.”
Riley said she believes the use of tickets are useful in getting the word out about various initiatives.
“It’s a lot easier to promote different initiatives through a ticket as opposed to just individually,” Riley said. “When you have two or three different tickets, they each have their own name [and] their own platform, it’s a lot easier to separate it for the general public.”
The results of the fall election will be announced on Nov. 1 in the Live Oak Lounge located in the LSU Student Union at 4 p.m.