Election results are in and over 350 Simpson students voted onTuesday in one of the most competitive campaigns the studentgovernment association has seen in awhile.

Some of the ballots held up to six names.

“It’s nice for a change to have more than one person on aballot,” said assistant dean of students, Rich Ramos.

The races are becoming more competitive and more people arelearning the importance of each vote, said student body president,Cory George.

According to Ramos the voter turnout isn’t a huge percentage ofSimpson’s student body, but it wasn’t terrible.

The elected presidents and senators will hold their positionsfor one academic year, Ramos said that these changes allow adifferent transition period for SGA representatives, but in hisopinion these changes will not have any affect on the currentSGA.

“I expect that the new representatives of the SGA will focus onmaking senate more than just a money based organization,” saidGeorge.

Currently, the SGA is viewed as an organization that hands outmoney to organizations on campus. It can be seen as an intimidatingand arrogant group, but according to the new student bodypresident, Eric Elben, this atmosphere and stereotype about SGAwill be one of the first changes to be made.

According to Elben, for the past couple of years the SGA hasundergone some significant changes and it has re-structured, butnow these changes are over, they have been implemented and aregoing to be communicated to the rest of campus.

“(Better communication) will help with the atmosphere problemand make (SGA) more inviting,” said Elben.

The new representatives and senators were sworn in on Wednesdayat the SGA meeting.

“It’s nice to have a mix, and see new faces along with a fewold,” said George.

Some of the senators and representatives have been with SGA forover a year and will be essential in learning from past mistakesand building SGA up to its full potential, according to George.

“I really liked being a part of senate this year. I liked beinga part of an organization that made changes that students couldactually see, and I’m excited to see that the new president andvice-president bring to SGA,” said current sophomore class senator,Jenna Simpson.

Elben plans to start a new technology committee within SGA andhopes to see changes made in network speed, and recurringtechnology problems. This committee will work with Simpson’sInformation Services department and incorporate changes studentswill be able to see and benefit from, much like those of thecurrent SGA food committee.

Elben also plans on getting more people involved in SGA not onlyas senators, but also as concerned members of the Simpsoncommunity. He hopes to see more competitive races for SGA electionsin the future and create a bigger student government.

“My biggest goal is to get new blood in the student government,”said Elben.