Student Senate Elections

It is that time of year again. With the conclusion of the Spring 2012 semester rapidly approaching, elections for Student Government took place last Wed., Apr. 25 in the HUB.

To entice student voters, free sunglasses and Frisbees were given away, and students could even enter in the drawing for an iPad. Winners of the election were announced Thurs., Apr. 26 at 7 pm in the Fireplace Lounge.

PSU student Jessica Cain, who had a lot to do with the smooth running of this election, stated that this semester, "Elections went well for the most part. We had a pretty big turn out the first day of elections, but the second and third days were lacking a little," she continues, "We ran out of the sunglasses pretty quickly, which is probably why." A sign that voter enticement definitely did its job the first day. 

In regards to the amount of positions filled this time around and voter participation, Cain said, "We tend to have more voters in the Fall Elections as well as more people running for senate positions, so we look forward to that [election season]."

For those who were not present to witness the announcement of the elected Student Government officials, they are as follows.
For the class of 2015, Alex Palermo was elected President, Vice President went to Emily Spring and Secretary went to Abby Wallace. 

For the class of 2014, Kayla Grimes was elected President, and Treasurer went to John O'Grady. 

For the Class of 2013, Stephanie Melo was elected President, Vice President went to Rich Duffy, Treasurer went to Colin Murphy, and Secretary went to Meghan Sweeney. 

For senate elections, Emily Spring and Kayla West were elected as Sophomore Representatives, Chris Missert was elected as the Smith Hall Representative, Ryan Bernier was elected as the Off-Campus Representative, JJ Theplama was elected as the At-Large Representative, and finally, Russell Mancini was elected as the College of Arts and Sciences Representative. 

In addition, Lexi Casale was re-elected to the position of Student Body President, Alex Herbst was elected Student body Vice President, and Alex Nix was elected as the new USNH Trustee. 

Though this election season has come to a close, a new one in the fall is right around the corner. As Cain said, the fall election season is more popular. More people will be running for open positions and re-election, and the students who didn't vote this time around can take advantage of what they missed out on in the spring. It is important that students participate by voting in these elections because the students elected represent the student population and are a great vessel through which individual voices can be heard.