Candidate filing for Student Government elected officials ends Monday at 5 p.m. Campaigning will begin when students return from spring break.
According to Elections Commission Chair Lindsey Pullum, it should be a heated race as there are more people running for the positions of student body president and treasurer, among others.
“Seven people are running for student body president. It’s going to be really competitive,” she said.
Pullum said this means a lot of money will be used on this year’s campaigning, with each presidential candidate allowed to spend close to $1,000 of their own money.
“Students don’t realize all this money is being spent to represent them,” Pullum said. “The combined spending on campaigning is a lot, but voting turnout is still less than the national average.”
According to Pullum, SG recently increased the spending cap for candidates running for elected office, but will also be stricter with those who put too much money into their campaign.
“A common phrase is ‘whoever spends the most money wins,’ and to an extent it’s true. Most of it goes into name recognition and that’s what the majority of the vote is based on,” Pullum said. “This year if someone is overspending ridiculously they will be disqualified. We don’t want the most recognized, we want the person best for the job and for the majority of votes to be well informed.”
Kyle O’Donnell, a junior in nuclear engineering, said it is impossible to crack down on violators of the spending cap.
“I wish the cap was enforceable because, regardless, candidates always disregard the cap,” he said. “It’s very difficult to quantify the amount each person spends.”
O’Donnell agreed victories are largely determined by name recognition instead of truly informed voters.
“I think it’s whoever puts their name out to the most students and that few students actually evaluate the positions,” he said. “There is a lot of apathy towards elected positions in SG and other student organizations.”
O’Donnell said it is important for candidates to reach out to students during their campaign to get publicity and to get students more involved.
“Based on past years of voting we’ll probably have relatively low turnout,” O’Donnell said. “Candidates should seek more effective ways to get their platform out to students.”
Jonathan Coburn, a freshman in nuclear engineering, said he probably wasn’t going to vote and usually doesn’t anyway.
“I don’t really pay much attention to these things,” he said. “They have to do something better to get the attention of the students.”
Coburn said the traditional methods of chalking the campus and posting signs don’t really constitute a campaign.
“I don’t really like the idea of posters and fliers and I normally just glance over them,” Coburn said. “A video presented online would be better, or more opportunities for students to see more of the candidates and what they represent.”
Student Senate President Kelli Rogers said this race will be very competitive and that is usually good for campaigns.
“We have more competition within the races this time around, especially for the treasurer and president, and the majority of the candidates are really passionate about serving students,” Rogers said. “The more competitive a race is the more candidates have to work to get votes.”
According to Rogers, it’s important for candidates to get a lot of face-time and to get to know their constituents instead of spending a lot of money to try and win by popularity. She said candidates are obligated to abide by the rules and that an elections commission exists to maintain the rules and punish violators.
“I think there’s always room for improvement with regards to how candidates campaign and connect to their constituents,” Rogers said. “It’s important candidates are out there with students before and after their campaigns, even if they run uncontested. The positions of president and treasurer normally depend on a lot of personal connection between the candidate and students.”
Anyone seeking an elected position must file their application with SG by 5 p.m. Monday.