By Tim Bayer
Loyalist College students have spoken, and student government has three new members.
The election results posted on Loyalist students.com showed student government received 349 ballots, about 12 per cent of the full-time student body.
It’s still a low mark for an election, but it’s one of the highest turnout student government has had in years.
Student government hoped a chance to win $500 for students who voted online would boost the usual eight-per-cent voter turnout.
It worked for first year electrical engineering student Daniel Jones.
“I didn’t really have a view on it, but there was a prize,” he said with a laugh.
Robert Hoekstra, Natasha Pereira and Dalton Sanderson all won their respective leadership positions.
Hoekstra garnered 40 per cent of the biosciences and business leader vote; Pereira had 57 per cent of the first year leader vote; and Sanderson finished with 38 per cent of the justice studies leader vote.
Sanderson finished with only 17 votes more than Erin Foote, the next closest candidate.
The three newly elected members join the other four school leaders on the board. Students can raise questions to student government through their respective school leader.
Still many students around school either didn’t know or didn’t care about the vote.
Karl Upton, another first year electrical engineering student, points to a lack of advertising as the main problem.
“In a provincial or federal election they do a lot more campaigning,” he said. “The only notice I have had of the student elections are the posters on the wall.”
Students will have an opportunity to meet members of student government next Wednesday evening at a class leader assembly in the Link Lounge.