It’s voting time at Elgin Community College with student government elections taking place this March. During this time ECC students can vote for who they would like to represent them as the student trustee on the college’s board of trustees and various positions in student government. To start off the voting, student government held a town hall meeting on March 19 in the Spartan Auditorium.

Candidates for positions like Student Body President, Student Senator and Student Trustee were all present in hopes of garnering votes and presenting themselves to the student body. The town hall meeting provided these candidates with an opportunity to show off their ideas and give speeches on what they would do to best represent the students while working their positions.

“As Student Trustee, I will work along with student government to make sure that whatever concern students might have, will be heard by the board of trustees,” said Esmeralda Flores, Student Trustee candidate.

After each candidate gave a speech, an open forum was held for students and faculty to ask any questions they had for the candidates on stage. One student asked all the candidates about student involvement and what they would do to encourage students to get involved with on-campus activities and organizations. This is an apparent issue since even attendance at this town hall meeting was modest.

“I propose we reach out to the students ahead of time at the very beginning of the semester,” said Student Senator candidate, Jeff Krocko. “We could maybe have some sort of presentation during orientation. Getting students involved right away I think will benefit the clubs and the students as well.”

Another member of the audience then went on to ask the presidential candidates on their ideas about promoting unity and avoiding conflict among the student body.

“I would try to make sure that the environment at ECC is reasonable. I want everyone to have the ability to express their opinions,” said student body presidential candidate, Ronald Manual. “I want everyone to know that ECC is an open and inviting place that everyone is invited to attend. Everyone should also feel open to listen to other people ideas.” 

Voting for the student body elections opened on March 19 and went through midnight on March 25. To be able to vote in this election currently enrolled students had to log in online and vote through the ECC website.