SGA talks bus stop, voter turnout in Presidential Report

Mercer's Student Government Association (SGA) recently released their annual presidential report.  It was provided to The Cluster by SGA Vice President Aaron Scherf.

In an email sent to SGA representatives, President Elizabeth McKay touched on a couple of updates coming to campus this year.

New Bus Stop

Mercer has put up a clear “Bus Stop” sign at the Greek shuttle stop on campus.  Additionally, Macon Transit Authority is placing a sign at the downtown shuttle stop, according to McKay.

SGA Senator-at-Large Timothy Lewis said he is happy to see the new sign up on campus.[sidebar title="Upcoming SGA Dates" align="right" background="on" border="all" shadow="off"]

August 31: Freshmen Qualifications and Junior Special Election Qualifications

September 6-7: Voting

September 10: Mercer/Georgia Tech Game

September 11: SGA Training

September 12: First Senate

September 16-17: Mercer Parent's Weekend

September 19: Bear Grants Senate

September 25: Pilgrimage to Penfield

November 8: National Election Day

December 8: Christmas Tree Lighting

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“I am glad that we have new shuttle stop signage at Greek Village,” Lewis said in a Facebook message. “This makes it a clear place for students to wait and be picked up by the shuttle, and serves as a reminder, especially for our new students, that we offer such a great service to our students.”

Moving forward, MTA is considering placing an additional bus stop at The Brick at Lofts at College Hill.

SoCon Voter Registration

Looking forward, SGA is also promoting a Southern Conference voter registration competition this year. According to the email, Mercer will be competing against all other SoCon schools in order to increase the number of registered voters on campus.  

McKay wrote that SGA will be “taking a lead supporting position for Mobilize Mercer’s initiatives to help voter engagement.”

“SGA is proud to support both the SoCon Votes initiative and Mobilize Mercer,” said Cole Porter, SGA senator, in an email.  “Come November, we hope to break student voter turnout records while bringing home a conference title to the bears.”

Mercer Mobile App

Mercer’s mobile app ratings are “currently extremely low,” according to McKay, which has prompted SGA to cut their investment with the initiative in half.  

The presidential report stated that IT will be looking into the app’s trolley tracker to make sure it’s accurate as students head into this school year.  

Moving forward, SGA will be “[dedicating] efforts to promoting the app the students and receiving feedback.”  This project is being overseen by Senator Olivia Buckner.

 

Note: A previous version of this article did not indicate where the quotes from Cole Porter and Timothy Lewis were obtained. This story has been updated with that information.