WCU Student Government Association (SGA) elections for are next week and you will be able to meet some of the candidates during this week. Campaigning started Feb. 10 and goes until Feb. 19. Voting starts on Feb. 17 until Feb. 19.
This year, there are three candidates for president and for vice president. Students Landon Orr, Grady Jones, and Zach Powell are running for president. The candidates for vice president are Sommer Allen, Karina Rodriguez, and Seth Digh. Eight candidates are running for senators.
Amelia McKinney, a junior at WCU, is the new election chair for SGA. She serves as the associate chief justice and was added the election chair job from January to March.
“I basically act as the connection between candidates and higher-ups,” McKinney said. “I answer questions, plan events, handle the funding, and delegate the specific spending that candidates want.”
A big goal of McKinney’s is to try and increase the numbers of students following and voting in the SGA elections.
“We have about 10% of the student population who votes on average every year,” McKinney said. “So I’d really like to get that up this year.”
One way that McKinney plans to get voter turnout with the help from WCU’s athletics and their Jambotron and with the platform night.
“We’re going to be holding a public debate where the candidates debate their ideas and stuff,” McKinney said.
Platform Night is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 6 p.m. and you can watch on WHEE-TV and listen on WWCU 95.3 FM.
Increasing voter turnout helps students get their voice into school government. SGA helps bring up issues that students have with WCU to administration to help let the school know what the student body is thinking. SGA representatives represent students to the WCU Board of Trustee, have student representatives on the Tuition and Fees committee and decide on how much you’ll pay for the fees, meals and room on campus.
“Small elections, even at our college, are really important because school government has a big impact on how our college runs,” McKinney said. “Senators have a big impact on how our college runs.”
