As of 4:58 p.m. on Tuesday, March 1, there were 891 votes cast for the new selection of FGCU Student Government executive positions. That number is roughly 28 votes higher than the total number of votes cast during the entirety of last year’s elections.
“It’s an ongoing count because the polling system goes overnight,” said Ian Knight, the supervisor of elections. “Before the office closed at 5 p.m., there were 891 votes.”
Last year, there were only 863 votes cast throughout all three days of the election. Knight believes this was due to students only having the opportunity to vote in person on campus and that presidential candidate and incumbent Thieldens Elneus ran unopposed.
“This year, we got approximately 900 within the first eight hours of voting,” Knight said. “That has a lot due with the fact that the voting is online. This year, there’s a lot more student involvement in elections.”
Students seeking to vote in the 2016 SG elections can do so online through the homepage of EagleLink by logging in with their Eagle Mail address. Those who do not have the means to vote online or are having technical difficulties with EagleLink can vote in Cohen Center, room 247 from 1 to 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 2 or from 3 to 5 p.m. Thursday.
About 40 students cast their votes for the new crop of SG candidates in person on campus during the first day of elections.
“We had a three-hour window 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.,” Knight said. “We had roughly 40 people come through today. A few of them had issues voting. That was the main idea behind the Cohen Center voting location, to give students who were having problems to have a chance to vote.”
Throughout the election, SG will be raffling out items from the bookstore such as shirts, license plate frames and FGCU tumblers. On Tuesday, March 1, SG raffled get out of parking free cards as well as FGCU tumblers.
“We wanted to give everyone a clear chance,” Knight said. “To level the playing field for everybody, (for students) to get a chance to get something out of voting other than feeling satisfied that you got a chance to help the university.”
Voting will continue online through EagleLink until 5 p.m. Thursday, March 3.
For the latest on the 2016 SG election, visit www.jumpanzee.wpengine.com and follow @FGCUEagleNews on Twitter.