In an uncontested Student Senate Co-Presidential election, Juniors Ehsan Asghar and Kylie Lamberty won with 89 percent of the votes.

20 percent of the student body voted in the election. Asghar is currently serving as this years 2019 Class Representative.
Asghar was not surprised by the low voter turnout due to the major snowstorm that happened on Election Day and understood why turnout was so low.

Sophomore and Student Senate Ombudsperson Michael O’Neil agreed with this.

“While we have received emails about the low voter turnout in the election, a few factors contributed: primarily the election was uncontested, which created a degree of apathy. The election also happened during the snow day, so while student senate fulfilled the required hours of tabling, there was not a large population in the student center because of the snow cancellations. Despite this, student senate will still be looking for ways to increase voter turnout,” O’Neil said.

Due to running unopposed, the Co-Presidential debate was also canceled.

Originally, they were not told they had no opposition, which disappointed Asghar and Lamberty as they were looking forward to presenting their platform for the student body through a debate.

“There was another pair that was going to but didn’t end up doing it. We publicized it as usual. It could be that there aren’t many current juniors on student senate and it’s typically rising seniors that run. By this point most people have already figured out what they’re interested in and involved in and so it’s hard to get into it and commit at that level if you don’t already have some experience with it. With that being said though I think it runs best when we have fresh voices that come in with ideas of actual changes we can make so it’d be great to have more people show interest for the upcoming cabinet positions and fall elections,” O’Neil said.

“We were looking forward to the debate because we wanted people to know what we are thinking,” Asghar said.

Regardless of the canceled debate, Asghar has reported the positive feedback he has received since the election.

People have been coming up to him, saying congratulations, and giving him ideas on what to work on next year.

He is happy with this and sees this as a sign that students are already comfortable with him and Lamberty leading students next year.

Lamberty is currently studying abroad in Australia so the two of them planned out their platform and goals before she left.

When turning in their application to JoNes Van Hecke, Dean of Students, Asghar facetimed her so they could turn their application in together.

Both have a history serving on Student Senate.

Asghar as the 2019 Class Representative for the past two years and Lamberty her first and sophomore years.

Asghar is excited to help lead the process he’s been so involved in and excited to work together with Lamberty.

“I’m excited. We both are super thrilled. I’m excited to work with Kylie. She’s a very good human being.”

Asghar and Lamberty are planning to host events where student senators can get to know their constituents and form good relationships with them.

They also want to introduce incoming First-Years to Student Senate so they know who they are and are familiar with all they do for the college.

They want students to know more about Student Senate and show transparency during their tenure.

They are looking forward to following in current Co-Presidents Hubert Ngabirano and Solveig Svendsen’s footsteps and continuing the work they’ve started this year.