After the Associated Students of NMU elections on April 3 and 4, a new president, vice president and several representatives have been chosen.

Benjamin Stanley won as president over Adam Papin with a 439-381 vote, and Kelsey Hayes was chosen over Dani Thoune with a 551-230 vote.

“I’ve seen a lot of things that I think I could change and I think I have the energy to do it,” Stanley said. “I want students to feel like we’re actually doing something.”

Stanley said he has sat on a few ASNMU boards and knows how they run.

He also said he has found people who are willing to fill some of the board positions.

Last year, Stanley ran for president and was disqualified due to breaking five election rules as determined by the All-Student Judiciary.

Hayes, who ran for the first time this year, said it was a last-minute decision to run but wanted to get more involved during her senior year.

Hayes’ main goals as vice president next year are to recruit more representatives to fill the board and to update the ASNMU website.

“We’re supposed to be transparent to students and we’re not, and that’s a problem,” Hayes said. “New agendas and minutes need to be up there (on the website).”

Stanley said he looks forward to working with Hayes next year, and they have similar goals for Northern Michigan University.

“She seems very enthusiastic and very excited as well,” Stanley said. “We both want Northern to be a great place to be an alumnus of.”

Other winning representatives were Rachael Fisher as off-campus, Leann Herrmann as down-campus, Alex Nye as college of arts and science, Abby Roche as general studies and Brittany Voich as college of professional studies.

There were 917 total general election votes this year, down significantly from the last referendum year with 2,308 votes in 2010.

Of the four referendums on the ballot this year, three passed and one did not.

For the first time in years, two of the referendums – Radio X and ASNMU – requested a decrease in student activity funding.

“In the past, the organizations came to us with what they want on the ballot,” said Justin Brugman, current ASNMU president. “This year, the referendum committee has taken a more active role in deciding what should be on the ballot.”

Brugman said the referendum committee looked through the budgets this year and noticed excessive carryover from the two student organizations.

Both referendums for budget decreases passed easily, and The North Wind’s referendum for an increase was narrowly rejected.

The fourth and final referendum requested a change to the ASNMU Constitution, changing references of the “All-Student Judiciary” to the “ASNMU Judiciary.”

Currently, ASJ is combined with the student code review board, and any challenges of ASNMU constitutionality go through both ASJ and the review board.

The constitutional changes will detach the two, so the ASNMU Judiciary will deal strictly with ASNMU constitutionality, impeachment and election complaints.

Also, instead of being chosen by associate dean of students Mary Brundage, ASNMU Judiciary members will be appointed by the ASNMU president and subject to approval by the board, Brugman said.

“In my opinion, it really should be separate,” Brugman said. “We shouldn’t be bogging down that board with ASNMU stuff.”

Brugman said, although students voted in favor of the referendum to change the ASNMU Constitution, it must first be approved by the NMU Board of Trustees.