The Student Government Association (SGA) has re-opened its election window for next year’s senator positions after a mistake was made which “compromised the legitimacy of the election.”

The new election period began yesterday and will be open to students through Thursday at 4:45 p.m., according to an email Elections Chair Evan Redding sent to students Friday.

SGA vice president and president-elect Makayla Glass resigned from SGA in relation to the incident, which involved the oversharing of the voting progress.

The new election is a result of an internal process put in place by SGA to protect the integrity of students’ voices. The ballot for the new election will remain the same, as well as the options for write-in candidates.

Not many questions or concerns were raised by candidates, and none have dropped out of the race after learning of the re-election, according to SGA President Logan Wein.

Redding said he hopes students have trust in SGA and its commitment to honesty.

“We hope [students] realize we will be as transparent as possible in the future,” he said. “Mistakes and errors do happen, but that’s why we have these internal controls and processes.”

Redding anticipates that the new election will have a positive effect on voter turnout because of the measures taken to reassure students’ trust in the organization. Each candidate on the ballot will need to campaign, but they did not have to fill out new petitions or give speeches again.

Glass said there are always ways to improve aspects of the organization to assure that this type of incident will never happen again. For instance, administrative access to election progress has been taken away from all SGA members until the race’s conclusion, according to Redding.

Students can expect a solution to the presidential vacancy by the time SGA begins its leadership transition in two weeks, Redding said.

“We will have a qualified president that will lead the organization in the proper way.”

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