The Student Government Association announced the unofficial winners of the special Senate election after voting closed on Tuesday.

The official results with a vote breakdown will be released on Friday, Dec. 3 — three days after the election. 

There were five candidates running for five vacancies within the Senate: two in the Graduate School, two in the Law School and one in Commerce and Business Administration. 

Commerce and Business Administration

Emmett Wilson, who ran unopposed, won the Commerce and Business Administration seat.

During his campaign, Wilson supported a requirement that professors notify students of projects at least10 days in advance, and he encouraged the creation of workshops for Adobe programs and Microsoft Excel. 

Graduate School

Justin McCleskey and Aaron Wilkes won the two Graduate School seats. This was the only race with more candidates than open seats this cycle. 

McCleskey ran on a campaign of furthering graduate involvement in the SGA and increasing mental health resources on campus. 

“I’m super grateful to be elected and am excited to start working for a better SGA,” McCleskey said. “I’m hoping these election results will continue growing graduate involvement in SGA and promoting engagement from the student body as a whole to create a more transparent SGA. I think this election cycle was a win for independent candidates and should be motivation for others wanting to run next semester.” 

Wilkes said he seeks to establish collective bargaining for graduate student workers, reduce graduate school fees and increase awareness of graduate programs on campus through tabling.

“The plans going forward are to work with my fellow graduate senators to put forth legislation that aims at establishing collective bargaining rights for graduate student workers … and work to reduce existing graduate fees as well as adding a cap on the maximum amount a graduate student can be charged,” Wilkes said. “It’s a tall order, but I believe we can get it done.”

Law School

Elizabeth Brown, who ran unopposed, won the Law School seat. Blue Shellhorn won the second seat via write-in votes. 

Brown promised that she will involve the School of Law with other organizations around campus by encouraging law students to attend events and reaching out to other groups.

Elizabeth Brown and Emmett Wilson did not respond to requests for comment. 

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