In a record turnout, Jordan Pope was elected freshman class president. Freshman senators – in no particular order – are Kelly Stone, Tre Loge, Pierce Carey and Jacob Bruns.

This year, 179 of 324 freshmen (55 percent) voted in the elections, according to student body president Ethan Fredrick.

PREVIOUS FRESHMAN CLASS VOTER TURNOUT

2014: 155 of 357 (43 percent) voted

2013: 154 of 375 (41 percent) voted

2012: 133 of 404 (33 percent) voted

Despite lower enrollment, according to Fredrick, the absolute number and percentage of freshmen voting in SGA elections has increased since current seniors started at Simpson.

“There are a variety of reasons this could be the case, and I won’t speculate here what those are,” Fredrick wrote in an email. “However, this year’s record turnout certainly has something to do with the robust campaigns run by this first-year class.”

Freshman class president Jordan Pope, of Albia, said he enjoys serving others.

“I saw an ability to give back to the school at a very early stage through running for class president and being there for my classmates,” Pope said.

Pope is a political science major who believes strongly in civic engagement.

“I believe SGA has a frontline between the students and the college, and college is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Pope said.

Fredrick said SGA will be analyzing election results on an ongoing basis to identify ways to better inform and increase voter turnout.

Pope, who is of Sri Lankan descent, wants to increase diversity on the SGA board to better represent the student population.

The issue was a talking point last year. Fredrick wrote in email to The Simpsonian last year: “That discussion is important because as SGA is supposed to represent students, we have a big problem electing representatives that represent the student body.

This election cycle doesn’t look to be any different from others in that the overwhelming majority of student representatives will be heterosexual white men. That can present a lot of problems when we make valuable decisions about what really matters for students.”

Neither Pope nor Fredrick gave a formal initiative as to how diversity would be increased.