Northwestern’s Associated Student Government Senate voted to overhaul the executive board election timeline during its Wednesday night meeting.
At its third meeting this year, the Senate passed legislation moving ASG presidential elections to the sixth week of Winter Quarter. Elections were previously held during the beginning of Spring Quarter.
The change goes into effect immediately, meaning this year’s presidential election — which will call on students to vote for the 2024-25 school year — will be held in February 2024.
“(Elections) were right after Spring Break,” said Medill freshman and Senator Norah D’Cruze. “It wasn’t high voter turnout, that first week of Spring Quarter.”
D’Cruze co-authored the legislation. She said it will help increase the amount of students who vote in ASG elections and create more of a transition period between former and current ASG Executive Board members.
ASG Co-President and School of Education and Social Policy senior Donovan Cusick, who also co-authored the legislation, said he hopes the change will increase voter turnout. The most recent ASG presidential election brought record-low turnout, with only about 2% of the undergraduate student body casting votes.
“I think it will make a massive difference in terms of building some momentum,” Cusick said. “This will hopefully create more cooperation and make the process more seamless.”
The legislation states that under the previous timeline, “finals and the end of the school year are too soon to break any real ground.”
Speaker of the Senate and School of Education and Social Policy senior Leah Ryzenman said this was the first piece of legislation passed by the Senate this quarter.
“We’re trying to be very impactful and intentional with the legislation that we pass,” Ryzenman said. “We want to actually accomplish something, and this legislation does that. (It) is going to happen immediately and affect ASG.”
In addition to making this election procedural change, the Senate also discussed the New Student Organization Support Fund. This fund will allocate $5,000 per quarter for new organizations — which have existed for two years or less — whose applications are accepted.
The Fall Quarter application for the grant is due Nov. 12.
ASG also launched its Executive Grant for student organizations this fall, which is set to distribute $69,000 throughout the 2023-24 academic year.
In preparation for distributing funds, Senators underwent a justice and inclusion training and brainstormed equitable solutions to several funding scenarios, according to Ryzenman.
“(The New Student Organization Support Fund) was specifically created as another resource, as a way of setting aside funding for these organizations with as low of a barrier as possible,” she said. “We want to help them as they grow and assist them to put on these amazing events.”
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— ASG Senate elects internal board representatives in second Fall Quarter meeting
— ASG launches new Executive Grant to support student orgs and initiatives
