After serving as interim Student Senate president from May to September, junior business administration major Mario Magana announced in an email sent to the student body Sept. 18 that he would officially step down from the position following the election of a new Senate cabinet and class senators in the final week of September. Following this message, instructions were provided for running for a position in the Senate along with a rough timeline of events for the election of a new Cabinet and senators.

In order for students to be registered as candidates for a Cabinet or for a senator position, they were required to collect 50 signatures from fellow students. Students running for class senator positions had to collect 50 signatures solely from individuals within their class, while Cabinets could collect 50 signatures from any student. Candidates for class senators were also required to submit a two minute introductory YouTube video to Student Life to be transmitted via email to the entire class three days prior to voting. 

Competing Senate cabinets will debate key issues over Zoom Monday, Sept. 28. A link to this event will be sent out to students prior to the event. Two days after the debate, Sept. 30, voting will commence and will officially close at the end of the day Oct. 1. The new Senate Cabinet will be announced via email Oct. 2. 

The two Cabinets running are “Your Voice on the Hill” and “Change, Respond, Impact.” 

“Your Voice on the Hill” consists of Olivia Eggleston, senior nonprofit leadership and Applied Critical Thought and Inquiry (ACT-In) major; Tavarus Pennington, junior English and communication major; Grace Garbe, junior communication and nonprofit leadership major; and Ireland Hawkins, senior accounting major. 

“Change, Respond, Impact” consists of Madison Carroll, senior Oxbridge: Institutions and Policy and international relations major; Samuel Slaughter, sophomore history and secondary education major; Asa Mpuan, senior chemistry major; and Elise Villareal, senior English and theater major.  

Class senator voting will begin Oct. 5 and end Oct. 6, with the results being announced Oct. 7. The first official meeting of the new cabinet and senators will be held Oct. 13.

The timeline of the Student Senate election is as follows:

September 25: Student Senator and Cabinet petitions due.

September 28, 8:00 p.m.: Senate Cabinet Debate to be hosted by The Hilltop Monitor via Zoom. Students will receive a Zoom link in their Jewell email inbox prior to the debate.

September 30: Voting begins for Student Senate Cabinet. Jewell students will be emailed ballots and voting instructions.

October 1: Cabinet voting ends.

October 2: Student Senate Cabinet election results are announced via email. 

October 2: Students are emailed introduction videos from Student Senator candidates.

October 5: Voting begins for Student Senator candidates. Jewell students will be emailed ballots and voting instructions.

October 6: Student Senator voting  ends.

October 7: The 2020-21 Student Senators are announced via email.

October 13: Senate will host their first meeting via Zoom.

While Student Senate elections typically take place in April for the forthcoming academic year, disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic delayed elections until this fall. In the interim, 2019-20 Senate vice president Magana served as president after 2019-20 Senate president Hannah Keeney’s, ‘20, graduation. 

In his Sept. 18 message to the student body, Magana noted that he would not be running for reelection and urged his peers to get involved with leadership roles in the Senate.

“[T]here are changes going on around us that require attention, transparency, and focus. These unprecedented times ask for us to all be leaders on campus and in our communities. The important thing to remember is: leadership can be achieved anywhere.

“All this to say, I have greatly enjoyed my time on Student Senate and serving as your Interim Student Senate President, but it is time for the next wave of leaders to find their calling… On a final note: Take the time to really consider being not only a leader, but also a voice for your peers. Why not make an impact on the place you’ll one day call your alma mater?” Magana said.

In many U.S. states there is no requirement that someone win an election by receiving a majority of the voting populations’ votes. Instead, they just have to garner the most. Under a plurality voting system with single choice ballots, this means that a candidate who receives only 38 percent of votes could win an election.

That is exactly what happened in Maine when current Gov. LePage, a highly controversial figure in the state, won the election for governor. Dissatisfied with the voting system that made LePage governor, Maine voters decided to change their voting system and switched to IRV using preference ballots.

McCune examined the advantages to switching from a single-choice voting system, the traditional ballot nationwide, to IRV nationwide. On an IRV ballot, voters have more of a chance to show their opinions than on a single-choice ballot. On a preference ballot, voters mark the bubble next to their ranking of a candidate from first to last. The votes are then counted and presented in preference order. Once the candidate with the least first-place votes is eliminated, the candidates’ votes are distributed to the remaining competitors. This continues until one candidate has the majority of votes and is declared the winner.

Under a single-choice voting system, majority unfavored candidates can win while consensus candidates (those who would be people’s second or third choice, as opposed to the polarizing unfavored candidate) lose.

In contrast, IRV does not select highly polarizing candidates as winners, and consensus candidates are more likely to win an election than under a single-choice balloting system.

“If the question is [if] I think Maine made the right decision in moving from plurality to IRV, my answer is yes,” McCune said while discussing the advantages of an IRV system.

In addition to the discussion on Sept. 14 led by McCune, a U.S. Constitution Trivia contest will be held on Monday, Sept. 17 from 6-8 p.m. to continue to observe Constitution Day.

Photo courtesy of Legal Beagle

This cabinet ran on a platform of communication and inclusion.

“The ultimate goal that our campaign is to communicate to the voters that we want to strengthen the community through better communication, collaboration and promotion,” said Miller.

The cabinet also made several promises to students throughout the campaign period. Of note were the promises to include more students in discussions regarding issues on campus and improving the communication between the administration and the student body.

“[We will be] including more students from different backgrounds and organizations in discussions over campus related issues: title IX, diversity and inclusion, campus safety, event planning, Jewell sports, etc. This is the hallmark of our campaign because we believe Student Senate cannot discuss these varying issues alone nor can we act alone in solving them,” said Miller.

During the campaign week, this cabinet used Twitter, Facebook and fliers on campus; distributed plastic Easter eggs around the quad with candy and their campaign slogan inside; designed and handed out cookies to students; and wrote their names in chalk on walkways around campus.

“This campaign season was a great experience for our cabinet. We made new friends and listened to innovative ideas along the way. It can be tough campaigning, but we could get through it because we believed in our platform and the people who supported us in this endeavor,” said Miller

Two other cabinets campaigned this year.

The “Hand in Hand” cabinet was comprised of Alex Blevins, junior accounting and Spanish major, Kelsey Jepson, junior nursing and ACT-In major, Kitt Wilhelm, sophomore English and ACT-In major, and Sam Schneck, first-year political science and economics major.  

This cabinet’s goal was to promote and advocate for campus groups to create a more inclusive and representative campus community and to contribute positively to the College’s goal of improving retention, particularly for first-year students.

“The campaign season has been productive and a great way to interact with a number of different individuals across our campus,” said Blevins. “We are all working hand in hand in some way to promote an atmosphere of more thoughtful interaction and that has been true during this election among all three campaigns.”

This cabinet placed second in the election with 144 votes in the first round and 205 votes in the second round.

The third cabinet in this year’s election was called “Cardinals First.” This cabinet was comprised of former Student Senate President Zak Carroll, junior Oxbridge Institutions and Policy and international relations major; Meg Anderson, junior Oxbridge History of Ideas and physics major; Madison Carroll, first-year Oxbridge Institutions and Policy and philosophy major; and Jamie Briscoe, first-year biology major.

This cabinet focused their campaign around enacting change in three areas: title IX, institutional health and off-campus housing and ways to improve student welfare. Two members of this cabinet, Anderson and Zak Carroll, are studying abroad this year and were absent during the campaign week.

Though all members were able to participate in the campaign debate, the cabinet did not comment on how distance affected their campaign overall.

“Throughout this cabinet race, I’ve been struck by the fact that Jewell’s vitality is the outcome that matters most. I feel strongly invested in the school […] the cabinet race will be a success as long as the elected cabinet can help Jewell thrive,” said Anderson.

This cabinet placed third in the election.

Current Student Senate President Drew Novak, senior political science major, extended his congratulations to the new, elected cabinet and to the other cabinets on a hard-fought campaign. He admitted that this year’s election process was more eventful than anticipated.

“While there were issues with the election process, the Cabinet was pleased to have been able to host the fair and democratic election that the student body deserves. We look forward to working with Jakob, Sarah, Hannah and Alex in the upcoming transition process and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors as cabinet,” said Novak.

Novak is alluding to several unexpected events throughout the campaign period that caused confusion and delays in voting.

This includes drama at the annual Cabinet Debate, held April 6 and hosted by former Hilltop Monitor Editor-in-Chief Kristen Agar, senior accounting major. The debate is held every year to provide cabinets the opportunity to voice their stances on topics relevant to the campus community and to provide other students with a platform to ask questions.

This year’s debate sparked controversy as Miller was named by an audience member to be the author of “Jewell Fake News” and Zak Carroll quoted figures regarding the College’s financial status from a Higher Learning Commission (HLC) report published in November 2017.

While the revelation about Miller sparked discussion localized amongst students, Zak Carroll’s comments led to an intervention from the College’s administration and resulted in the live-stream video of the debate being removed from social media.

This year’s election proceedings did not go according to plan and it was only the third survey sent to the student body that was used to record votes. The original two surveys were discarded as some students were unable to access the first and the second was accessible to people outside of the College community.

To ensure accuracy and fairness in this election, the current Student Senate Cabinet opted to use the online service “Election Runner,” which creates personalized links for each person allowed to vote. These links were digitally distributed to the entire student body, giving each student the opportunity to vote once.

Despite the supposed guarantee granted by outsourcing the election process, six students were not delivered their voting links on time. These students’ links were later emailed to them personally and they were allowed to vote.

While these issues were ultimately circumnavigated, they resulted in a shorter voting period and the Cabinet election results being announced four days behind schedule.

Chris McCullick, assistant business professor and Student Senate advisor, commented on the amount of work that it takes to run the Student Senate and remarked on the credibility of each cabinet that campaigned.

“As Student Senate advisor this year, I’ve seen first-hand how much passion the student representatives have for Jewell. The amount of work that goes into running Student Senate is tremendous. And, I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the Cabinet this year. […] I thought each of the representatives did an excellent job during the debate and would serve the student body well,” said McCullick.

For more information regarding Student Senate visit: https://jewellsenate.com/

Photo courtesy of Sydney Georges.

On April 11, 2017, a special election in Kansas’ southern 4th Congressional district, which includes Wichita and Wellington, was held to replace former Representative Mike Pompeo, who was recently appointed as director of CIA by President Trump. The election was not expected to be troublesome for the Republican establishment given President Trump and Representative Pompeo’s significant electoral leads in this district during the 2016 election. Yet, a Republican poll on the brink of the election showed Estes’ lead to be a lot narrower than was originally projected. This prompted a fervor of spending and a swift mobilization of support by Democratic and Republican leaders across the country on behalf of their respective Kansas candidates. Get-out-the-vote calls recorded by President Trump and Vice President Pence flooded the district.

Estes defeated Thompson last Tuesday. However, Thompson earned the majority of the early and absentee votes, and Estes’ victory was only secured by a margin of around 7 percent. Thompson and many other Democrats do not consider this a loss.

“Mr. Estes did not beat us. It took a president of the United States, the vice president, the speaker of the House, a senator coming into our state and a bunch of lies to drum up a vote,” said Thompson, responding to the slight election results.

The close race may be due to the ill-perceived tax policies pursued by Brownback. The state’s budget crisis and its impact on education in Kansas help account for Brownback’s low approval ratings which hover around 26 percent. According to a recent survey by the Morning Consult, Brownback earned the title of the nation’s least popular governor.

Yet, since this is the first congressional election since the start of the Trump Presidency, this may reflect a broader dissatisfaction with the Trump administration and Republican-ruled government. Georgia’s special election to replace Tom Price’s seat April 18—Trump’s new secretary of health and human services—was also close. A subsequent runoff between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel will occur June 20.

On the other hand, Estes says that his victory confirms the will of the people for Republican governance, despite the close special elections and the President’s 40 percent approval rating.

“The pundits…[said] we were going to lose a Republican seat…that it was a chance for the Democrats, they were motivated, there was a lot of angst against the president. But we really showed the pundits tonight, didn’t we?” announced Estes late Tuesday.

Whether or not these narrow victories in the recent special elections spell trouble for Republican-dominated Congress and many of the Republican-held state legislatures in 2018 remains to be seen. Despite Democrats pouring funds in special elections at the state level, they have failed to flip the legislatures of every contested district across a myriad of states since the beginning of 2017. Moreover, Democrats’ ability to isolate contested elections and offer support for congressional candidates in close races seems less aggressive than Republicans’. Democrats did not initiate a get-out-the-vote campaign in Kansas’ 4th Congressional District until after the Republican survey in the district materialized, leaving little time to rally Democrats and sway undecided voters in the district.

Both parties have lessons to learn from the recent special election in Kansas. Republicans might need to emphasize Estes’ victory and Republicans’ state-level victories amidst Trump’s controversial policies in order to secure dominance in the 2018 midterm election. Democrats may need to improve their tactics of gaging popular opinion in congressional elections and increase their response time for offering support to candidates trailing or leading by a margin.

Photo courtesy of Politico.