After the filing process for Student Senate seats came to a close Tuesday evening, candidates began preparing for the start of campaigning to fill available open seats in nearly every NC State college.
According to Student Senate President Adam Schmidt, a third-year studying civil engineering, the only positions voted on during the fall elections are student senator seats.
“In the fall election, it is just senate seats that are up for election,” Schmidt said. “Right now, we have all of the first-year seats, so we have 10 seats for first-year students who are in their first year at college, as well as transfer students who are in their first year at NC State, and then we have two seats for first-year graduate students.”
Along with the 12 seats for first-year students, there are also one or two senator seats open in a majority of NC State colleges.
After the candidates attend the Student Government Board of Elections All Candidates Meeting this week, campaigning will begin at the beginning of next week.
“Campaigning starts next Monday, Sept. 10 at 8 a.m.,” Schmidt said “They campaign for a week. The election opens Monday, Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. and runs for 24 hours. The winners of the election are revealed at 9 p.m. on Tuesday the 18th.”
According to Schmidt and the Student Government website, the list of open Senate seats includes:
Two seats open in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
One seat open in the College of Design
Two seats open in the College of Education
Two seats open in the College of Engineering
Two seats open in the College of Natural Resources
One seat open in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Two seats open in the Poole College of Management
Two seats open in the College of Textiles
Two seats open in Graduate and Lifelong Education
Schmidt also said that student voting is encouraged in the Student Government fall election just as much as it is during the spring election, because senators still speak for students in the college they represent.
“I think it’s really important to remember, regardless of if you vote for someone in the spring or vote for someone in the fall, they’re still your representative in the student senate,” Schmidt said. “And they are still a good way for you to get in contact with administrators, or bring an issue that you are passionate about to Student Government to try and address.”
Seats not filled during the fall election will be filled by appointment and confirmed by the Senate. According to Schmidt, an application for these seats will be sent out in the coming weeks.
More fall election information can be found here.
