UPDATE: Ten new SG Senators elected Wednesday evening

Ballots for the Student Government Senate fall election went out Monday to students by e-mail and according to the Chairman of the Elections and Dispute Commission, turnout has been high so far.

The election is for 10 new senate positions in Student Government. The candidates are all either freshman or transfer students.

Voting opened online Monday and will end at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

The voting is done through an online service called Collegiate Link which Student Government uses for all of its elections. Student Involvement Office uses the service to post announcements and list all of the student organizations on campus.

This is the second year that Student Government has used Collegiate Link for voting in its elections, said junior David Bier the Chairman of the Elections and Dispute Commission.

According to Bier, one of the downsides of voting online is that there may be fewer votes cast in the election. But as of this Tuesday, Bier said there had been over 700 votes cast by students, a substantial increase from last year.

“Goal is to get more [votes] than the previous year,” said Bier. “We have already blown that out of the water.”

Students are able to choose up to ten candidates on the online ballot. According to Bier, voting will close at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday and the counting of votes will began at 5:30 p.m. The hope, said Bier, is for the newly elected senators to be sworn into office by Thursday’s Student Senate meeting.

Students, who currently are not freshman or transfer students, will be able to participate in another election in the spring, said Bier.  There is also an appointment process for students who would like to become senators during a time when elections aren’t occurring.

Student Senate meetings are held every Thursday at 4:30 p.m. and are open to the public.

Current students who have not yet voted in the fall election can vote at https://gmu.collegiatelink.net/

UPDATE: Wednesday, 11 p.m.

The results for the Student Government race for Student Senate came in Wednesday evening. 10 new senators were chosen from the group of 16 freshman and transfer students.

Over 800 votes were cast and the winners for the student senate race are:

Matt Crush 354 votes
Elizabeth Sponn - 326
Sarah Harvard - 317
Brandon Cobb - 308
Evan Del Duke - 304
Dilan Wickrema - 297
Matt Hayes - 261
Laura Valin - 249
Anthony Travieso - 213
Philip Abbruscato – 200

Student Senate will hold their first meeting with the newly elected senators tomorrow, Thursday Oct. 6, at 4:30 p.m.