Freshmen will have the opportunity today to choose seven senators from a pool of 27 candidates.
While the campaigning season has not been very long, students had the chance to familiarize themselves with the candidates during a forum on Monday night in Sophia Gordon Hall.
Tufts Community Union (TCU) President Neil DiBiase said he was happy with their performance at the event.
"It looks like this is going to be a really competitive race," he said. "There are really a lot of impressive freshmen running for only seven seats."
TCU Historian Alex Pryor agreed.
"At the candidates' forum, all of the freshmen came across as really enthusiastic. The Senate loves that. We're excited to bring them on board," she said. "It will be fun to bring new voices in."
Voting began today at midnight and will continue until 11:59 p.m. All voting will be done online and a mobile polling station will be available to help students through the process.
This station, which will be located in the campus center, will be staffed by Elections Commission (ECOM) members and feature two laptop computers that freshmen can log into to cast their votes.
"We're trying to make voting more accessible," junior and ECOM Chair Adam Weldai said.
While a technological glitch held up elections for two hours during the last Senate cycle, Weldai is confident that there will not be any delays today.
"We learned from the problems we had and the company we're now working with has a 24-hour customer service person to help us should we encounter problems," he said.
He also said he expects a good turnout today, and that he thinks a good portion of the votes will be cast in the early hours between midnight and 3 a.m.
"It is at midnight when the candidates are knocking on doors getting people to vote, but it drops off by 3 [a.m.]," he said.
Because one fewer rising senior ran for the Senate last spring than there are seats available for that class, one senior seat will be occupied by a junior. There could have been a race for that position today, but only one student, Antonella Scarano, decided to run, eliminating the need for an election.
DiBiase said he is excited to see the results of the all-freshmen election.
"It is a big field of candidates. They are all more than qualified and they have many different perspectives," he said. "It will be very interesting to see how the freshman class responds and what they are looking for in their senators."
Editor's note: The Daily will provide full coverage of election results in Friday's paper. In the meantime, check out www.tuftsdaily.com for a list of election results tomorrow.
