The Scarlet & Black

The Independent Student News Site of Grinnell College

The Scarlet & Black

The Scarlet & Black

SGA Election Results: two first-semester first years among 18 students elected to senate

After+a+prolonged+election+process%2C+SGA+senate+met+for+their+first+session+on+Oct.+31.+Photo+by+Isabel+Torrence.
After a prolonged election process, SGA senate met for their first session on Oct. 31. Photo by Isabel Torrence.

Two first-semester first years, Emma Maloney `25 and Olivia Wang `25, have been elected to senator positions in the Student Government Association (SGA) senate for this year. Nine second years and seven third years were also elected. No fourth years ran for or were elected to the senate. Additionally, two new Judicial Council Chairs, Loyal Terry `23 and Nazma Noray `23, were confirmed.

The extended and sometimes convoluted election, which took place over the span of two months, was mired by delays, a lack of communication from SGA and a complete restart of the senator application process, according to some students and SGA officials who participated in the process. As a result, the S&B has decided to compile a timeline denoting the events that contributed to the confusion. 

2021-2022 Fall Semester Election Timeline: 

Sept. 9: SGA email sent out inviting students to run for senator. 

Sept. 15: Original senator applications due. Elections to begin shortly after. Nameera Dawood `23, SGA admin coordinator at this time, resigns from SGA cabinet. 

Sept. 23: SGA announces senate elections must completely restart due to a loss of the senatorial candidate applications. 

Sept. 27: Senate applications due. Elections are planned to begin on Sept. 28. Senator training is planned for Oct. 1, and the first senate session is planned for Oct. 3. 

Oct. 4: Election period for senators and proposed referendums opens. 

Oct. 5: Election period for senators and proposed referendums closes. 

Oct. 7: SGA contacts all candidates (including write-ins) on the results of the senate elections. Official 24-hour grievance period for election grievances begins. Two senate seats (one in LaKeRoje and one in OCCO/OCNCO) remain unfilled. 

Oct. 8: Official grievance period ends. 

Oct. 8-Oct. 27: Open senate seats for LaKeRoje and OCCO/OCNCO are filled.  

Oct. 10: Senator training session is held.

Oct. 31: First official session of SGA senate takes place. 

Proposed Referendums (SGA fall 2021 budget and first year Senators): 

As of November 9, SGA has confirmed the results to both of the referendums that students voted on. The budget passed with 325 students voting in support, 19 voting against and 68 abstaining. The amendment allowing first-semester first years to run for senate also passed with 278 students voting in support, 102 voting against and 28 abstaining. As a result, two first-semester first years are currently serving on the senate. 

Referendum Election Results: 

  • Fall 2021 Proposed SGA Budget 
    • Referendum – PASSED with 78.9% approval
  • First-semester first years permitted to run for senate 
    • Referendum – PASSED with 68.1% approval

Referendum to confirm two Judicial Council Chairs: 

The results for the confirmation of the two new Judicial Council Chairs were confirmed by SGA on Nov. 9. In regards to Nazma Noray `23, 332 students voted in support of confirmation, 12 voted against and 55 abstained. With Loyal Terry `23, 341 students voted in support of confirmation, 9 voted against and 50 abstained.

Judicial Council Election Results: 

  • Judicial Council Confirmation Votes 
    • Nazma Noray `23 – CONFIRMED with 83.2% approval
    • Loyal Terry `23 – CONFIRMED with 85.3% approval

SGA Fall 2021 Senate Election:  

SGA released their vote tallies to the S&B on Nov. 9. The results were tabulated using instant-run-off voting (where students ranked their choices for senators). 

As of an email sent out to each of the senator candidates on Oct. 7, two senate seats were left unfilled. These seats were filled between Oct. 8 and Oct. 27.

The open seat for OCCO/OCNCO was filed with Jada Fife `24 via the election grievance process; Fife was appointed to this seat as a member of the OCCO cluster “due to an unexpected irregularity with the way ResLife’s dorm clusters align with SGA’s dorm clusters this year” according to the results sent to the S&B by SGA. The LaKeRoje seat was filled by Jazmin Richardson `23 who received 1 write-in vote during the election. These two seats are indicated in the results below. Candidates who were elected are indicated below as well. 

Senate Election Results by cluster: 

  • OCCO/OCNCO – 3 seats 
    • Jivyaa Vaidya `23 – ELECTED 
    • Taj Lalwani `24 – ELECTED 
    • Jada Fife `24 – ELECTED* 
  • Loosehead – 3 seats 
    • Kyla Pereles `25
    • Lexy Schusterbrown `23 – ELECTED 
    • Lewis James `24 – ELECTED 
    • Alex Stein `25
    • Eli Eichner `24 – ELECTED 
  • ClanGraLa – 2 seats 
    • Alex Kim `24 – ELECTED 
    • Emma Potter `24 – ELECTED 
    • Neal Stratton `24
  • Smounker – 2 seats 
    • Connor Fahey `24 – ELECTED 
    • Toby Frick `24 – ELECTED 
  • JaMaLand – 2 seats 
    • Emma Maloney `25 – ELECTED 
    • Alexander Sun `23 – ELECTED 
    • Howie Youngdahl `25
  • LaKeRaje – 3 seats 
    • Olivia Wang `25 – ELECTED 
    • Lexi Hankenson `24 – ELECTED 
    • Jazmin Richardson `23 – ELECTED* 
  • CaNaDa – 3 seats 
    • Nikole Alvarez `23 – ELECTED 
    • Annabella Matheus `23 – ELECTED 
    • Sharena Brown `23  – ELECTED 
    • That Prommolmard `25

*Indicated seats that were filled between Oct. 8 and Oct. 27. 

Nov. 9: These results were updated to reflect voting numbers after SGA released this information to the S&B. 

Leave a Comment
More to Discover
About the Contributor
Mohammad Igbaria
Mohammad Igbaria, Sports Editor
Mohammad Igbaria is a fourth-year psychology and neuroscience major on the pre-med track. Hailing from Upland, California, Mo enjoys staying up way too late with friends and reorganizing his comically large (yet frequently used) first-aid kit. His favorite part of the brain is the amygdala.
Donate to The Scarlet & Black
$0
$500
Contributed
Our Goal

Comments (0)

All The Scarlet & Black Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *