The Student Government Association breathed a sigh of relief when it learned that seven percent of the students went to the polls in last Friday’s Senate elections. If the SGA had not received at least five percent of the student vote, the elections would have been declared void.

Prior to Election Day, the Senate race posed early concerns, many regarding the possibility of a reoccurrence of problems like those of the previous year. Last year, the Senate was overturned and the entire Senate election was declared unconstitutional due to a lack of elections commissioners. The current members of the SGA Coordinating Council took measures to ensure that similar issues would not occur again.

SGA President John Sheehan and SGA Speaker Aaron Saunders guaranteed the elections to be smooth as well as run efficiently despite the lack of commissioners.

“We can guarantee that there will be two knowledgeable people at every table,” Sheehan said.

Saunders expressed similar thoughts as well, by explaining that it’s not the title that’s important, it’s that students have their voice and vote.

“Titles don’t matter… and it’s not a valid criticism against the SGA,” Saunders said. “We have a job to do and it should not be impended due to procedural issues. It’s important to look at the reality of the situation and the fact that we have a job to do.”

Sheehan and Saunders both expressed prior to Election Day that the SGA did not have the tools to hold a fully commissioned election based mainly on a lack of Area Governments. Area Governments supply the elections committee with one individual from each living area on campus; however, due to area governments in flux this did not occur.

Aside from concerns of an repeat of last year, the elections have proven to be successful thus far. With all but a few vacancies, mainly under the Commuter district, the SGA Senate is looking towards holding it’s first official meeting on October 3.

“I was confident that we would get the five percent student vote needed, and we got seven percent,” Saunders said. “I think it went well considering it was a Friday, and the elections were quick, so I think it’s excellent.”

The election ballot contained three referendum questions requesting student’s opinions on a variety of issues, which directly affect the University of Massachusetts.

The first asked students if they supported surveillance cameras being placed on dormitories as well as various locations on the UMass campus. 311 students voted for cameras, but 811 voted against them.

Referendum question number two asked students if they would approve an increase of $3 on their Student Activities Fee. This would increase the yearly fee up to $78. Students voted for the fee increase with a vote of 702 students in favor and 386 against.

The third referendum question called for students to vote on the SGA Constitutional By-Laws regarding the recently changed two electoral districts, On-Campus Residential and Commuter. The SGA Coordinating Council ratified this question prior to the elections based on a unanimous decision made by last years Senate.

“I think the question was rather confusing, but students voted to keep the three district system,” Saunders said.

Due to the former three districts system (On-Campus Residential, On-Campus Nonresidential and Commuter) the SGA faced numerous issues regarding seat apportionments in the past, in particular with the Greek system. Saunders explained that the SGA and the Administration agreed to keep the Greek area in the Commuter district and that On-Campus Nonresidential would be kept to UMass owned housing only.

“We needed the students opinion and the problem has already been solved.” Saunders said. “I’ve talked to Javier Cevallos [Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs] and were all in agreement that the Greeks are in the Commuter district and there is more than enough evidence to support this. Now we can all breath a sigh of relief and put this behind us and move on.”

The Elections which are supposed to be ratified within 48 hours of the elections has yet to occur, but is scheduled to be done this Wednesday at the SGA’s final Coordinating Council meeting.

“It’s important for the Senators to remember, especially the incoming freshman, to understand that even though infighting is attractive at times and easy to get caught up in, that they weren’t elected to be apart of it,” Saunders said. “They were elected to come into this position and make a difference within the undergraduate student body and I have faith that students will see a difference in this years Senate.”

The newly elected Senate will be meeting for a two-day orientation in order to prepare for the up and coming year as well. The first Senate meeting is set to take place on Oct. 3 in the Campus Center at 7:00 p.m.