Eastern students will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite candidates for student government’s executive board and Student Senate starting April 1.

Voting begins at 8 a.m. on April 1 and ends at 11:59 p.m. on April 2.

Student body president Rebecca Cash said all Eastern students would receive an email via Panthermail inviting them to click a link to vote for their candidates of choice for both Student Senate and the executive board.

Executive vice president Zac Cohen said Carson Gordon, current vice president of academic affairs, is running for student body president.

Additionally, Kathleen Conlin is running for executive vice president, Claude Abdoulaye-Pedila is running for vice president of student affairs and Noor Ul Haash Khamisani is running for vice president for academic affairs, Cohen said.

Students running to be student senators include Randall Becker, Brianna Hogan, Iliana Trifonova-Ingram, Michael Perri and Nathan Yisreal, Cash said.

The unofficial results of the elections will be in by April 3, Cohen said, but the official results will be ready April 10 and announced at the Student Senate meeting.

Cash said the inauguration would be April 24, but the location for the ceremony has not been determined yet.

For this year’s elections, the candidates are all uncontested, which means no one else is running against them for the seats they wish to fill, Cash said.

Because no one is contested, Cohen said student voters also have an option to vote “no confidence” for a candidate if they wish.

The terms for members of the executive board technically end June 30, so terms begin for the new Student Senate members begins July 1, Cohen said.

Both Cohen and Cash said that they believe every student should vote in the elections this year.

Cash said students and the rest of the Eastern community are voicing their concerns more frequently and unabashedly, which is a good thing. That means students voting for candidates they believe in and contributing to the change they wish to see on campus is important.

“Recently people have been voicing their opinions on issues and topics more than we’ve seen ever, so you have to vote for a candidate you think is going to help you bring those issues to the table, help you make your voice hear and try to make some sort of difference, some sort of change, no matter how big or small it is or how many people they impact,” Cash said. “Something that I stand by in these elections, state elections, national elections, if you don’t vote, you can’t complain, so vote.”

Both Cash and Cohen agreed that they would be very happy is 46 percent or more of the student body voted during the elections this year.

However, Cohen said he speculates the turnout will be about 700 students like last year’s elections.

After Student Senate announces the results of the elections, Cash said there would be about 5-10 seats left to fill in student government.

Cohen, Cash and Alicia Matusia, vice president for student affairs, are not returning after the elections, Cash said. It will be the first time in four years two people from the executive board are not returning to Student Senate, she said.

She said student government usually engages with students during Pantherpalooza, tabling series and First Night to recruit more members.

Logan Raschke can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].