The Missouri Students Association Senate elections will take place April 22-24.
Fifty seats will be open for various academic college seats, while 20 are designated for at-large election seats and one is designated for the senate speaker. Students can only submit one ballot but can vote for as many seats as are allocated to their academic college.
Due to legislation passed April 3, 25 of the 50 academic college seats will be up for re-election in November during the MSA presidential election.
The 25 senators who receive the fewest votes will be the ones whose seats reopen in November.
The BEC is accepting intents to run through Wednesday, Board of Elections Commissioners Chairman Tyler Ricketts said. Currently, 20 people have submitted intents, but Senate Speaker McKenzie Morris said this number will increase.
Last year, 39 people ran for Senate seats. There were a total of 2,287 votes with 502 students voting, according to Ricketts.
There are some differences from last year, though. The BEC loosened restrictions on campaigning, making them simpler and easier to understand, Ricketts said. Unlike last year, there are no restrictions on campaigning in the MSA offices, and senators do not have to register campaign websites with the BEC.
“There haven’t been any major issues in the past, so we don’t need that degree of regulation,” Ricetts said.
The only restrictions on senators include banning libel and slander.
“They’re very loose just because there is less campaigning going on and it’s in a shorter period,” Morris said. “… It’s not nearly as competitive (as the presidential elections) because there (are) 50 seats compared with one president and one vice president, so I don’t think they feel a need to be as undercutting.”
Information regarding the election has been in MU Monthly, on Facebook and in other mediums of communications.
“Hopefully, students will be caught from one angle or another,” Morris said.
David Wettroth, the newly approved BEC chairman who begins after the Senate elections, said most senators campaign by posting the election information on their personal Facebook pages.
Morris said that posting on Facebook does reach their constituents, but she would like to see Senators promote their campaign in other ways as well.
“If you’re being elected for an academic college, it is best you work within that academic college,” Morris said.
Morris added that she is confident senators will reach students from their academic colleges.
Ricketts said getting student involvement is the most important.
“I’m a fan of more students being engaged in the process, and with limited resources to publicize the election, any effort made by any senator is great,” Ricketts said.