USG discusses upcoming student government elections

Members of the Undergraduate Student Government discussed strategies for publicizing the upcoming November student government elections at its weekly Senate meetingon Sundayevening.

Voter turnout for the Freshman Class Council elections was high with 719 freshmen casting votes, more than 50 percent of the Class of 2018, elections manager Amara Nnaeto ’17 said. However, she added that she is aiming for higher rates of enthusiasm among voters in the upcoming elections.

The elections in November elect the president, vice president, class senators and committee chair positions of the USG and consistently have the largest voter turnout of any election cycle during the school year.

Results for the class council elections were delayed due to technical issues with the poll-hosting provider, Nnaeto said, a technicality she hopes to avoid in the future.

To raise student enthusiasm for the upcoming elections, ideas to explain the role of the USG Senate and provide students with an opportunity to voice their concerns to the student government were discussed.

Members of the Senate discussed going door-to-door and having one-on-one meetings between students and members of the USG Senate, as well as hosting study breaks at each residential college before the election in order to allow students to engage with USG members in an informal setting.

Members of the USG also raised concerns about newcomers running against incumbent members.

"One issue we have in the discussion of re-elections is that people are afraid to run against incumbents,” U-Councilor Sol Taubin ’16 said.

She added this often limits the number of candidates for a given position. Other members of the USG said they hope to encourage more students to run for positions occupied by incumbents at the upcoming election.

The USG was also introduced to Graduate Student Government president Sean Edington at the meeting, who discussed opportunities for collaboration between the USG and the Graduate Student Government and addressed the ongoing delays in the construction of the Lakeside Graduate Housing complex.

Student Groups Committee chair Jeffrey Kessler ’15 introduced the four newly recognized student groups, including Society for Princeton Urbanists, Princeton Francophone Society, Princeton Committee on Bipartisanship and Princeton University Letterpress.