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Get Ready to Vote! SGA Elections Coming
by Carissa Rice
The campaign begins
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Candidates for student government offices for the 2003-2004 school year turned in their petitions Monday night, April 7. Only three out of 14 offices are contested.
Frank Beacham, Sarah Birdsong, and Jeff Jenkins are running for president of the Student Government Association executive board.
The offices of sophomore president and sophomore vice president each have two opposing candidates. Ten other offices drew only one petitioner. No one volunteered for the secretary/treasurership of the junior class.
Ben Jackson is the uncontested candidate for senior class president, while Chris Alley, the current president of SGA, will run alone for senior class vice president for next year. The two opposed each other for the presidency of SGA in the 2002 election but will potentially be working together as president and vice president of the senior class.
Nominees for Student
Government Office
Executive Board
President
Frank Beacham
Sarah Birdsong
Jeff Jenkins (Jinco)
Vice President
Talia McCammond
Secretary
Nina Gilliam
Treasurer
Chad Schroeder
Senior Class:
President
Ben Jackson
Vice President
Chris Alley
Secretary
Jill Atkins
Treasurer
Amy Schacht
Junior Class:
President
Dane Thompson
Vice President
Erin Bennett
Secretary/Treasurer
No candidate
Sophomore Class:
President
Becca Carey
Brandon Jeffs
Vice President
Megan Brand
Chelsey Gaddy
Secretary/Treasurer
James Thompson
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Students had several weeks to complete and submit petitions to the SGA Elections Committee - which required each potential candidate to obtain 100 signatures from the student body, excluding the current senior class.
All candidates are required to prepare and give individual speeches for office before the student body on April 14 at 5:00 p.m. in Belk Auditorium in the Wren Student Union building. It will be the one chance for candidates to be heard individually without any disruption or debate.
A chief justice will be appointed by the Judicial Council, not elected by the student body as specified in the current Student Handbook. Constitutional changes which have been approved by the SGA are expected to be ratified by the Student Affairs Council when it meets April 17. The six-member Judicial Council includes the director of judicial programs, currently Dean of Student Life Craig Goforth.
In the event that the current chief justice, Frank Beacham, fails to win election as executive board president, he may still have the opportunity to remain chief justice, if he is appointed and chooses to do so. The elected sophomore and junior class presidents and vice presidents will appoint their own class secretary/treasurer, as no one signed up for that office.
The election will be held on Tuesday, April 15 from 9 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. in the Wren College Union building. All students currently in the freshman, sophomore, and junior classes are eligible to vote. Students can vote near the host desk on the second floor of Wren just outside of the Lion's Den. There will be only one ballot box. According to the SGA Constitution, the candidate with the most votes wins, even if that is not a majority when more than two candidates are running. Runoffs occur only to decide a tied vote.
So, the advice of the SGA is to go out and vote!
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