The students join four other candidates who accepted seats Tuesday night, filling 11 of the 13 seats left vacant after the Feb. 12 general student body elections.
There were no votes cast for the position in District Two, and one write-in candidate from District Five has yet to respond. Both districts are graduate and professional student seats.
In recent years, Congress has been plagued by a large number of empty seats. At the beginning of the fall 2001 semester, 11 seats in Congress were still vacant. In the last three years, no more than 31 of Congress' 37 seats have been filled, student leaders said.
Speaker of Congress Tony Larson said having an almost full Congress will broaden its representation on campus and allow committees to have more thorough discussions.
"A greater number of students with more opinions and perspectives will lead to fuller debates," he said. "We'll be able to cover more topics."
Board of Elections Chairwoman Emily Margolis said candidates have 24 hours to respond after being contacted and notified of their positions. She said she contacted the candidates Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Candidates also must turn in their financial statements, which outline their campaign expenses, when they take their positions. Margolis said she already has received financial statements from the 11 candidates that have accepted their seats.
Even if only one seat remains vacant, the Student Code requires Student Body President Jen Daum to order another special election within 30 calendar days of the beginning of the fall semester.
Daum said she plans to call the next special election within 24 calendar days of the start of the fall semester. "I'm planning on having elections within the first three weeks, if not earlier," she said.
