With multiple items on her to-do list and the help of her elections commission, Alex Casale is constantly working to make this year’s Temple Student Government elections a success.
The TSG Senate appointed Casale as elections commissioner in February, and she has since been working on restructuring the TSG elections process.
“I’m not doing it to have something to put on my résumé. I’m doing it for the betterment of Temple,” Casale said. “It’s to give the students the best possible experience here.”
To increase awareness, TSG will hold three debates this year. The first, a debate for vice presidential candidates, will be held March 25.
Inspired by the national election’s vice presidential debate, TSG’s debate will be the first of its kind at Temple.
Another first is the presidential debate, which will be held in the Johnson and Hardwick cafeteria March 31.
Casale said she hopes this will get more freshmen involved in the elections and allow more people to hear the candidates’ proposals.
The final ticket debate will be held at the Bell Tower April 6. Insomnia Cookies will provide free cookies to attendants at both the ticket debate and the vice presidential debate.
Although exact details are not finalized, Casale said she wants students to be able to ask the questions at the debate.
Typically, the elections commission writes and asks the candidates questions at these events, but this year, Casale said she wants to create more audience participation.
“They’ll know the issues, and they’ll have a better idea of who to vote for,” Casale said.
This year, the candidates were instructed to write very detailed platforms illustrating how they plan to accomplish their goals.
“Platforms are the biggest thing. Platforms are mandatory at being a lot more detailed,” Casale said. “It’s pretty much a map for the next year.”
Last year, TSG created a Senate to represent the student body and its needs.
The selection process for senators this year is another change being implemented. Senators must fill out a questionnaire and application that will be filtered by a committee.
Director of Student Activities Gina M. D’Annunzio and TSG graduate extern Ben Starsky will participate in the filtering process. After the committee reviews the applications, they will be sent to the deans of the applicants’ respective colleges.
The Senate president is elected at the final Senate meeting by the current senate. Those wishing to be elected must make a speech in front of the Senate before the vote. Next year’s senate will be sworn in at this same meeting.
“I think it’s the best way because the new senators will have an idea of who they are candidate-wise,” Casale said.
Elections will occur April 7 and 8. Students can vote online, and there will be one polling location in the Student Center.
The two tickets for this year’s election are TU Action, comprised of Kylie Patterson for president, Anthony Leroy for vice president of external affairs and Jon DeSantis for vice president of services. The second ticket is the TU Dream Team led by Gäelle Amazan for president, Kevin Gerard for vice president of external affairs and Alex Barnett for vice president of services.
Rebecca Hale can be reached at rebecca.hale@temple.edu.
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