Today is the first day to vote for next year’s members of Student Government.

All executive positions and many senate seats will be voted on today and Tuesday.

Polling places are located in Carman and Coleman halls, the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union and the Student Recreation Center.

Polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Students are required to show their Panther Cards to vote.

The results will be announced at the Student Senate meeting Wednesday.

Candidate for student body president

Cole Rogers (Student United Party)

Year: Junior

Major: Social science education

Cole Rogers, student vice president for student affairs, is continuing his three years on the Student Government by running unopposed for student body president.

Rogers has three goals as the successor to current Student Body President Sean Anderson.

The first goal is to provide more financial aid opportunities to students.

While Rogers doesn’t have experience in funding, he plans to work to develop strategies with the administration in creating the opportunities.

Another goal for Rogers is to create more student representation.

The grant-in-aid board distributes money to students from athletic teams and other organizations and doesn’t contain one student member on the board, Rogers said.

The last of Rogers’ goals is to create more campus traditions.

Rogers suggested a cookout or a possible bonfire as new traditions, but to keep ideas such as First Night “still rolling.”

Besides Student Government, Rogers, who majors in social science education, is also involved with Education Scholars.

Candidates for student executive vice president

Kent Ohms (Independent)

Year: Junior

Major: Political science

Kent Ohms has spent three years on the Student Action Team and two years on the Student Senate.

He plans to bring back the effectiveness of the Student Action Team that he said has been decreasing.

Increasing the student voice in Springfield and not necessarily the university voice is another part of his goals with the Student Action Team.

The student executive vice president is the student member on the Board of Trustees.

He sees the smoking policy as a major issue on the board.

“The current policy doesn’t work,” Ohms said. “You can’t kick smokers off campus because it makes us look like a high school.”

Smokers would go off campus to smoke and possibly upset nearby property owners, he said.

Ohms is looking for a compromise between advocates of a campus-wide smoking ban and those opposed to it.

The junior political science major spent two years on the Panther Marching Band and is also a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

He was also the Student Senate speaker during the fall semester.

Levi Bulgar (Student United Party)

Year: Junior

Major: Psychology

Levi Bulgar, student vice president for business affairs, wants to increase the student voting presence.

He would like to start voting registration drives and inform students that they need to register again when they change their address.

Bringing political debates to campus is another one of his goals, whether local or national.

He thinks that bringing senators and representatives will get students excited about politics.

Bulgar, who immigrated with his family to the United States from Romania in 1990, said that some Americans take their vote for granted.

“I will vote when I can,” Bulgar said. “It’s a duty and obligation and it takes five, 10 minutes tops.”

Another of Bulgar’s plans is to make higher education a priority in Springfield.

He wants to get students organized and show Springfield that higher education is a priority.

Besides his two years on the Student Government, Bulgar is also involved with Sigma Phi Epsilon and Interfraternity Council. He is also a senior Prowl leader and the publicity co-chair for Homecoming.

He is majoring in psychology.

Candidate for student vice president for academic affairs

Alison Kostelich (Student United Party)

Year: Sophomore

Major: Biology/pre-med

After a year on Student Senate, Alison Kostelich, sophomore biology/pre-med major, is running unopposed for student vice president for academic affairs.

She plans to continue the Student-Teacher Interaction Program that began this semester.

“We’re lucky and privileged to have small class sizes,” Kostelich said.

The program will do better because it has been presented to more organizations and been more publicized, she said.

She also wants classes to expose the students to more cultures.

This would include making three of the nine Arts and Humanities required credit hours be deemed cultural awareness, such as African-American studies or women’s studies.

The current diversity requirement doesn’t necessarily expose students to a new culture, she said.

Another goal is to increase the distribution of newspapers on campus to off-campus students, instead of just the on-campus students.

Kostelich is involved with Delta Delta Delta, Panhellenic Council, and the Honors College and is the Eastern voting delegate to the Illinois Board of Higher Education-Student Advisory Committee.

Candidates for student vice president for business affairs