The referendum abolishing class and student councils failed with 57.6% of non-abstaining students voting for the referendum, short of the two-thirds majority required for constitutional amendments. The other referenda, one for changing the start date of senate terms and one that gives School of Education students senate representation under the CAS senator, passed, receiving 85.8% and 87.3% of the vote, respectively.
After technical issues delayed the election by two days, the election was held between Wednesday, Oct. 30 and Friday, Nov. 1. For the second year in a row, voter turnout reached a record low, with 966 undergraduate students voting, according to Election Commissioner Eamon Vahidi.
“I think part of the reason [for the low voter turnout] is the reputation of AUSG,” Vahidi said. “However, part of that was also that there was an issue where the mass email list that was being used, provided by AU, that did not include all the freshmen.”
In addition to the referenda, the results for seats in the student senate were also announced. Furthermore, with the student and class council left intact, those results were also announced.
This year, despite lower turnout, there was a high number of candidates from the class of 2023, with 11 candidates for five seats, noted Carter Foust, an associate member of the Judicial Board. Meanwhile, the number of candidates was lower than usual for class council positions. Vahidi pointed out that the prospect of those seats being abolished may have contributed to a lower number of candidates for those seats.
The senate and class council results are listed below:
- Senators for the campus at-large: Connor Miller, Chyna Brodie, Adit Roy, Curtis Hayashi and Ben Hughes
- Senators for the Class of 2023: Ish Jamar, Sebastian Aguilar, Eduardo Castellet Nogués, Vanessa Sousa and Noah Burke
- Senators for the Class of 2022: Jeremy Ward and Andrew Gamble
- Senators for the Class of 2021: Wayne Rodriquez, Harshita Soni, Inuri Abeysekara, Kathryn Selinger and Shannon Stillwell
- Senator for SPA: Javon Darrien
- Senator for SIS: Zuby Chowdhury
- Senator for Kogod: Harrison Griffin
- Senator for SOC: Adriana Doria
- Class of 2023 Council: President Sebastian Aguilar, Vice President Nick Baar, Treasurer Justin DePrado and Secretary Vanessa Sousa
