Marquette students will have the opportunity Wednesday to vote for their residential senators in the fall Marquette Student Government elections.

Students can vote online at http://musg.mu.edu/vote beginning midnight on Sept. 23. Voting closes at 10 p.m. that evening.

According to MUSG Vice President Stephanie Stopka, a senior in the College of Business Administration, the only contested elections are for the O’Donnell Hall, Straz Tower, Abbottsford Hall, Carpenter Tower and McCormick Hall seats. Candidates in the Cobeen Hall, Schroeder Hall and off-campus senator elections are running unopposed. Open seats include one McCabe Hall seat, one off-campus seat and two commuter seats.

Both Stopka and MUSG President Henry Thomas, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said they have met most of the senatorial candidates and they like what they see so far.

“Everyone seems like a qualified leader,” Stopka said.

After voting has closed, the election committee will tally the votes in each race. Once they finish, committee members verify no charges of misconduct have been brought against any of the candidates.

Stopka said if a candidate is found to have broken any campaign rules, he or she can be docked a percentage of his or her votes. The amount of votes lost depends on the offense and is decided by the election committee itself, she said.

While this does not always impact the election, Stopka said it has in the past.

Once any and all charges have been filed, the votes are verified and MUSG announces the results to the student body. Stopka and Thomas said they plan to announce this election’s results at a press conference scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday.

In other news from this week’s meeting:

• Thomas announced he was initiating talks with Marquette Radio and Alumni Memorial Union Executive Director Todd Vicker to have MU Radio broadcasted in public areas on campus. Initially, MU Radio would only broadcast in the union, with the service expanding to campus Brews and other public locations over time.
• Communications Vice President Lauren Lakomek, a senior in the College of Communication, said MUSG plans to place a greater focus on helping students understand MUSG’s purpose. Thomas later said the executive board plans to meet outside the library on Sept. 29 and make themselves available to answer any questions students have.
• The Senate unanimously approved a $2,500 allocation for the IT Student Organization’s BizNet event at the Wisconsin Club. The Student Organizations Allocation Committee also allocated funds for 13 other organizations prior to the meeting.