The Georgetown University Student Association Senate campaigns are well under way, in preparation for elections on October 6, but four of the 25 open seats have attracted no candidates.
None of the residents of McCarthy, Village A (E-H), Nevils, or the Townhouses have submitted a candidacy form. The four Senate seats will remain empty unless someone decides to run a write-in campaign, according to transition team leader Nick Troiano (COL ‘11).
The Senate was restructured earlier this year and the number of seats was reduced from 35 to 25. The reasoning behind the decision was partially based on the idea that having fewer seats would make seats more valuable and elections more competitive.
Besides the four empty seats however, fourteen of the other positions are uncontested, and only seven of the 25 seats boast two or more candidates.
Last year there were ten vacancies in the Senate, which were mostly created by forced resignations due to poor attendance, according to Tim Swenson (COL ‘10).
Those ten vacancies were filled in a special election held during the GUSA presidential election in March. According to Troiano, however, the process for filling empty seats is likely to change on Sunday.
“The transition team will recommend a process whereby the Senate will vote on candidates put forth by the Speaker to fill the seats,” Troiano wrote in an e-mail.
“I think what sometimes happens is that some people in these districts aren’t as confident,” Swenson said.
“They show up to a general interest meeting and they see how many people are interested and they think they can’t win.”
“Once students realize the district is wide open, they might reconsider their decision not to run,” he said.
Troiano shared Swenson’s perspective.
“It’s early in the game,” Troiano said. “We don’t know who will end up running a write-in campaign … It’s a concern, of course, but I don’t think it’s detrimental.”
