The third New College Student Alliance (NCSA) election cycle of the 2020-2021 school year has come to an end. After holding elections in the fall under unconventional circumstances due to the pandemic, fourth year student and Supervisor of Elections Annika Kufrovich was able to learn from her experience last semester.

“I think the main thing that was really different about this election from the last one is that we were able to get official candidates for every position on the ballot,” Kufrovich explained. “I think this is largely because we consolidated the presidential and spring elections both to help ensure there would not be another election later in the semester and raise the visibility of this election.”

 Increasing student participation in student government is on the minds of those supervising the upcoming elections. Recent elections have not been as competitive as those seen in previous years. 

“I think part of it is because of the pandemic, because I think in general less people are interested in taking on extra responsibilities with everything going on, whether that be attending a club or taking a student government role,” Kufrovich commented. “On top of that the student body has shrunk the last few years, so even if the same percentage of people would be interested in running for the NCSA, there’s just less of those people overall due to the smaller total student numbers.”

A shrinking student population is a problem, but not one without a solution. 

“I think the main thing would be to grow the student body at least back to where it was when I entered, and the new president of the school will probably have a lot to do with that,” Kufrovich noted. “Otherwise, I think currently the NCSA continuing to encourage people to run for positions each semester is and will continue to be a great help on that front.”

Looking to the future, NCSA cabinet members will have to work with the school’s administration to ensure student participation. The results of the most recent election can be found in the table below.