SGA Election Results: two first-semester first years among 18 students elected to senate

By Mohammad Igbaria igbariam@grinnell.edu

Two first-semester first years, Emma Maloney `25 and Olivia Wang `25, have been elected to senator positions in the Student Government Association (SGA) senate for this year. Nine second years and seven third years were also elected. No fourth years ran for or were elected to the senate. Additionally, two new Judicial Council Chairs, Loyal Terry `23 and Nazma Noray `23, were confirmed.

The extended and sometimes convoluted election, which took place over the span of two months, was mired by delays, a lack of communication from SGA and a complete restart of the senator application process, according to some students and SGA officials who participated in the process. As a result, the S&B has decided to compile a timeline denoting the events that contributed to the confusion. 

2021-2022 Fall Semester Election Timeline: 

Sept. 9: SGA email sent out inviting students to run for senator. 

Sept. 15: Original senator applications due. Elections to begin shortly after. Nameera Dawood `23, SGA admin coordinator at this time, resigns from SGA cabinet. 

Sept. 23: SGA announces senate elections must completely restart due to a loss of the senatorial candidate applications. 

Sept. 27: Senate applications due. Elections are planned to begin on Sept. 28. Senator training is planned for Oct. 1, and the first senate session is planned for Oct. 3. 

Oct. 4: Election period for senators and proposed referendums opens. 

Oct. 5: Election period for senators and proposed referendums closes. 

Oct. 7: SGA contacts all candidates (including write-ins) on the results of the senate elections. Official 24-hour grievance period for election grievances begins. Two senate seats (one in LaKeRoje and one in OCCO/OCNCO) remain unfilled. 

Oct. 8: Official grievance period ends. 

Oct. 8-Oct. 27: Open senate seats for LaKeRoje and OCCO/OCNCO are filled. The open seat for OCCO/OCNCO was filed via the election grievance process; it is not yet clear how the LaKeRoje seat was filled. 

Oct. 10: Senator training session is held.

Oct. 31: First official session of SGA senate takes place. 

Proposed Referendums (SGA fall 2021 budget and first year Senators): 

SGA has confirmed the results of one of the two referendums that students voted on, the fall 2021 proposed SGA budget. The budget passed with 78.93 percent of votes in support, 4.6 percent voting against and 16.46 percent abstaining. The results for the referendum permitting first-semester first years to run for senate seats have not been confirmed by SGA at this time. Regardless of the referendum’s status, two first-semester first years are currently serving on the senate. 

Referendum Election Results: 

• Fall 2021 Proposed SGA Budget 

• • Referendum – PASSED 

• First-semester first years permitted to run for senate 

• • Referendum – PASSED* 

*Referendum is presumed passed, as two first years have been elected as senators. The S&B has yet to receive official confirmation from SGA. 

Referendum to confirm two Judicial Council Chairs: 

The results for the confirmation of the two new Judicial Council Chairs have also not been confirmed by SGA; however, Nazma Noray `23 was able to confirm in an email to the S&B that both she and Loyal Terry `23 have been confirmed for the two chair positions. 

Judicial Council Election Results: 

• Judicial Council Confirmation Votes 
  • Nazma Noray `23 – CONFIRMED 
  • Loyal Terry `23 – CONFIRMED 

SGA Fall 2021 Senate Election:  

The results of the senate election have yet to be publicly confirmed by SGA, but based on the SGA senate roster and documents and emails provided to the S&B the election results below are accurate. The two senate seats that were unfilled, as of an email sent out to all of the senator candidates on Oct. 7, were filled between Oct. 8 and Oct. 27. These two seats are indicated in the results below. Candidates who were elected are indicated below as well. 

Senate Election Results by cluster: 

• OCCO/OCNCO – 3 seats 
  • Jivyaa Vaidya `23 – ELECTED 
  • Taj Lalwani `24 – ELECTED 
  • Jada Fife `24 – ELECTED* 

• Loosehead – 3 seats 
  • Kyla Pereles `25
  • Lexy Schusterbrown `23 – ELECTED 
  • Lewis James `24 – ELECTED 
  • Alex Stein `25
  • Eli Eichner `24 – ELECTED 

• ClanGraLa – 2 seats 
  • Alex Kim `24 – ELECTED 
  • Emma Potter `24 – ELECTED 
  • Neal Stratton `24

• Smounker – 2 seats 
  • Connor Fahey `24 – ELECTED 
  • Toby Frick `24 – ELECTED 

• JaMaLand – 2 seats 
  • Emma Maloney `25 – ELECTED 
  • Alexander Sun `23 – ELECTED 
  • Howie Youngdahl `25

• LaKeRaje – 3 seats 
  • Olivia Wang `25 – ELECTED 
  • Lexi Hankenson `24 – ELECTED 
  • Jazmin Richardson `23 – ELECTED* 

• CaNaDa – 3 seats 
  • Nikole Alvarez `23 – ELECTED 
  • Annabella Matheus `23 – ELECTED 
  • Sharena Brown `23  – ELECTED 
  • That Prommolmard `25

*Indicated seats that were filled between Oct. 8 and Oct. 27. 

These results will be updated as SGA releases the voting numbers for each candidate, referendum and confirmation.