Today Mississippi State University students will cast ballots to decide who this year’s Student Association senators will be.
Polls will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Colvard Student Union Dawg House and the Drill Field entrance to the Mitchhell Memorial Library.
Student Association Vice President Braxton Stowe said students have a chance to elect 46 senators representing different parts of the student population at MSU according to scale.
“The College of Education, for example, can elect up to three senators because of the population of students in that college,” he said. “There are 12 spots for people off campus and that gives equal representation to people [living] on campus.”
Stowe also said students will be voting on two other things: class council representatives and an amendment to the SA Senate Constitution.
“[The class council] representative raises money for their particular class senior gift,” Stowe said.
SA President Braxton Coombs said the recusal amendment students will be voting on began making its way to the ballot last year.
“This is a process that was passed in Senate last year by Matt Bramuchi and will better serve as a source of accountability for Student Association executive officers in order to prevent possible conflicts of interest,” he said.
SA Attorney General Blake Jeter said the amendment will help get rid of any thoughts of unfair election practices.
“The recusal bill’s intent is to give an officer a chance to recuse his or herself from a situation that would be a conflict of interest,” he said. “Recuse literally means: to withdraw from a position of judging so as to avoid any semblance of partiality or bias.”
Jeter said the main benefit of voting on the recusal and getting it into the constitution is that if a situation arises, the policy will already be in place.
“The recusal only further strengthens the structure of the SA that emphasizes fairness and integrity,” he said. “This process helps to safeguard against any future problem that could come up.”
Stowe said the SA is expecting a large turnout to the polls this year based on the number of candidates who applied.
“This year is the most amount of people we’ve ever had running for Senate in SA history,” he said. “We have a little over 80 people running.”
Stowe said the SA represents any student enrolled at MSU, even if the student is only signed up for one credit hour. He said choosing the voice of the campus is an important responsibility.
“These are students that are representing every one of the 18,000 students,” Stowe said. “We feel that voting on who you want to be a senator or class council is your right and you have a right to [vote] as a student.”
Coombs said it is important for students to vote for someone that represents their interests, ideas and concerns.
“We want to ensure that the Student Association is composed of people who want to ensure that students’ experience at Mississippi State is incomparable,” Coombs said.