ASMSU President Jo Kovach gets up during the Board of Trustees meeting on Oct. 28, 2022 to give trustee Pat O'Keefe a business card with their number on it.
The Associated Students of MSU, or ASMSU, is planning to build next year's general assembly and Office of the President. The election cycle begins Monday, April 3 and lasts through Sunday, April 9.
The general assembly is comprised of different representatives from different departments, schools and student organizations at MSU.
“They're the ones that introduce vote on and advocate for bills that they write, that can be academic based, policy based or financially based,” ASMSU public relations manager Brandi Stover said. “And each year, the student the entire undergraduate student body is able to elect who they want representing them in their colleges.”
The process to apply to be a representative on the general assembly involves submitting an application with a letter explaining why the student is interested, what their goals are and something they want to do on campus. Each college has a set number of people who need to petition to get their name on the ballot.
Nicholas Prestly, a representative for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, is a graduating senior who has served the past year as a representative for his college and has campaigned during an election cycle before.
"I really tried to have those conversations of what are some things that you want to see around campus?" Prestly said. "And like how can I help you make campus to where you want to be?"
Aside from students running and campaigning, there is another side to ASMSU elections. The Undergraduate Elections Committee, or UEC, helps to ensure the whole process goes smoothly.
ASMSU recruitment and engagement coordinator Benjamin Fox said the committee meets a few times a year to facilitate and run all elections.
The process to apply for a position can be rigorous.
Applicants needed to have the correct number of signatures their college requires and all other materials in the packet. If they didn't have the required signatures, ASMSU reached out and told them an alternative way to run, Fox said.
General assembly representatives are responsible for representing the body of students they're speaking on behalf of.
“I would just really encourage everybody to vote," Prestly said. "I think we have almost every single one of the colleges being represented, which is really great to see. So just vote."
Students can vote in the spring 2023 general assembly election by visiting studentelections.msu.edu.
"Just be educated on the the candidates that are running in their schools and just take the time to really do their due diligence in their colleges,” Fox said.
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