Edna Grant
Staff Writer
The votes from this spring’s Associated Students of Idaho State University (ASISU) elections rolled in with a new chapter in Idaho State University’s student government.
Student government elections are held anually at ISU to elect a student body executive branch and senators from each college at the university. These chosen representatives are given the task of relaying information between the students, the Student Activities Board and the university’s administration.
Polls closed at 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 15. Later that night, officials announced the Pride Party’s victory, naming Camdon Kay the new ASISU president, along with his running partner Kiran Pandey in the position of vice president.
The senators from each college were also announced, showing a variety of winners from both the Orange and Pride parties.
The two seats available for the College of Arts and Letters were awarded to incumbent Nyele Alvarez and new-comer Saroj Lamichhane.
Lamichhane, a communications student and Production Editor of the Bengal, said he was thrilled by the results. He received 71 votes, more than either of the College of Arts and Letters candidates.
“I feel like the time has come to do hard work and prove myself as a successful senator for the college,” Lamichhane said.
Andrew Webb won the vote for the College of Business. Uma Shankar Medasetti and James Pascali claimed the two available seats for the Graduate Studies Program. The senators for the Science and Engineering programs will now be Mahesh Mahat and Nabin Raj Mahat.
Although the results for each of these colleges showed the winners claiming victory by a landslide majority, the turn-out to the polls ranged beneath 15 percent of each department’s eligible voters.
Liz Breuker, the candidate for the College of Education, and Chris Nartker from the College of Pharmacy both ran unopposed. Both said they felt their lack of opposition was due to indifference towards student government.
“I think a lot of pharmacy students don’t know exactly what it is and are too busy with pharmacy school to take the time and educate themselves on what ASISU is,” Nartker said.
“Competition gives the electorate more choices to choose their government,” Breuker said. “Competition doesn’t intimidate me, it excites me.”
Vice president-elect Pandey said he hopes to see ASISU make more of a lasting impression in the upcoming year.
He said ASISU should focus on continually making itself a presence in the student’s university experience.
“We have resources, but we should be creative on how to use those in students’ favor,” Pandey said.
