NC State’s student senate will have 14 new senators sworn-in during the next senate meeting, as the results from the fall senate elections were formally announced in Talley Student Union Tuesday night.
Down from an astounding 35 from last year, 23 students ran for first year undergraduate senate positions, with winners being Nate Browning, Adam Schmidt, Sam Chan, Emily Neville, Belton Moore, Jayna Lennon, Ryan Dunn, Hampton Clark, Kye Laughter and Alex Obiol.
Polls opened Monday at 8 p.m. and closed Tuesday at 8 p.m. with students voting through a link online or in person at Wolf Plaza.
In a 31% increase from voter turnout last year, over 700 first year undergraduate students cast their ballot for First Year Senate. Only two students ran for the graduate seats in the student senate, which number two, therefore automatically placing them in office.
“I’m super thankful for everyone that voted for me and supported me, and congrats to everyone that won,” commented newly elected Senator Sam Chan, a freshman studying political science, after hearing the election results. “Everyone did an amazing job running, and it was amazing to run against them.”
In addition to the ten First Year Senators, First Year Graduate Student Senators Mary Black and Ariel Rambaran, College of Life Sciences Senator JT Klimek and College of Textiles Senator Jack Smolarek, all of whom ran unopposed, will be sworn-in.
Student Senate, the legislative branch of Student Government is a 64-member body that passes bills, allocates the Student Government Budget, and investigates complex matters.
“The students elected to Senate will get to vote on any of the bills that are passed,” said Celeste Loia, board of elections chair and senior studying French language and literature. “They’ll also each be assigned to one of the different committees.”
Loia added that senators may be assigned to different committees including tuition and fees, appropriations and academics.
Ryan Dunn, a freshman studying political science said he thoroughly enjoyed running for a First Year Senate seat.
“Running for student senate has been a blast,” Dunn said. “It’s unlike anything I ever experienced while campaigning for student government in high school. With so many qualified candidates running, it [was] a priority to make sure to get my name out to the freshman class as much as possible.”
Dunn expressed how the board of elections effectively controlled the race and election, adding that they have done a “wonderful job enforcing rules and keeping all candidates up to date.”
Adam Schmidt, a freshman studying first year engineering and new first year senator, agreed that while his experience running for Senate was for the most part positive, he believed there were some aspects that could be improved.
“I expected the Board of Elections to sponsor or provide some sort of forum to allow candidates to interact with voters and give the student body an idea of what each candidate stands for, and what they would attempt to change if elected,” Schmidt said. “I also think that the elections this year weren’t timed incredibly well, since most students seem to be getting hit with an onslaught of tests this week, but I understand that the Board of Elections didn’t want to schedule elections too early in the year.”
