The Student Government Association (SGA) held elections at the University of Maryland last week and some candidates hoped that this year’s elections would result in higher voter turnout.
Two tickets sat on the ballot this year – Discover Maryland and Our UMD – along with two students running independently, according to the SGA website. Voting began on May 2 and ended on May 4.
Ayelette Halbfinger, junior operations management and business analytics major, will be the president for the 2022-2023 school year with Alexandra DeBus, sophomore biochemistry major, as her vice president and Ram Gupta, junior economics and finance major, as the vice president of financial affairs, according to the SGA website.
Our UMD Presidential candidate and junior public policy and Chinese double major Josephine Urrea’s team campaigned frequently prior to elections in order to encourage more students to vote.
“My team is out there every single day canvassing,” Urrea said. “We’re out there every single day meeting with student groups.”
Urrea’s main goal, regardless of who students vote for, is that she and her team want a higher turnout in general.
“We understand we want to win, but we also understand the importance of voter turnout, and we really want students to be involved in this process,” Urrea said.
Discover Maryland Vice Presidential candidate, and elected Vice President for 2022-2023, DeBus, shared similar thoughts.
“I really, really, want every student at UMD to vote,” DeBus said. “Some people don’t vote – that’s up to them, that’s definitely their choice…but I really do want students to know that they have a say in this election.”
Candidates from both tickets publicized their platforms as reasons for students to get involved in the election.
Caroline Howser is an Our UMD College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSOS) Representative candidate, and elected official for the 2022-2023 year. She said that Our UMD’s ticket is trying to expand relationships and resources for students.
“We’re just trying to…service the community as a whole, and make sure that people understand that, we have a lot of students here from a lot of different religions, backgrounds, undocumented students, international students,” Howser said. “We’re just really trying to make sure everyone feels welcome and comfortable at UMD.”
Howser continued, saying that Our UMD candidates understand that students don’t feel connected with the SGA.
“We recognize there is a disconnect between SGA and the student body,” Howser said. “We’re trying to kind of bridge that divide, so that SGA can better represent the student body, and everyone feels as if they have a voice at how the university is being run and structured.”
Discover Maryland Presidential candidate, and now elected official for the 2022-2023 year, Halbfinger said her ticket’s platform is about taking a culmination of experiences and issues to find ways for improvement in SGA.
“To me, Discover is all about growth, it’s about learning, it’s about discovering new,innovative ways to solve old problems,” Halbfinger said.
Halbfinger is also proud of the candidates on the Discover Maryland ticket.
“Together as a team we’ve created this group of students,” Halbfinger said, “…who are personable, who are approachable, who are passionate, who are driven, and who genuinely want to discover what is affecting every single student in the university, and discover the best way to solve their problems as a student government organization.”
Our UMD and Discover Maryland both have social media accounts and websites, explaining their platforms in detail.
Find Discover Maryland’s website here, and their instagram here.
Find Our UMD’s website here, and their instagram here.
Find the entire list of elected officials for the 2022-2023 school year here.