On Monday, Feb. 4, all NC State students will be able to fill out an intent to run form for spring Student Government elections.
Compared to past academic years, requirements to be a candidate have changed to encourage students to run for Student Government, according to Lee Daniel, a third-year studying biology and commissioner in the Student Government Board of Elections serving as finance chair.
“In general, a lot of the changes that we tried to make were to limit barriers of entry as well as identify some of those that made it easier for candidates to get into the elections process,” Daniel said.
One of the major changes made to the elections process is shifting the intent to run forms from a physical form to online, where people have more flexibility to submit them.
“Previously, what candidates had to do is that they had to print out a sheet, fill it all out and slide it under the doors of the Student Government suite or deliver it in person,” Daniel said. “Obviously, that doesn’t work really well when people have jobs or other commitments 9-to-5 that prevent them from doing that, so we moved that online so people can access that whenever.”
Additionally, after a student fills out an intent to run form, they must attend an all candidates meeting, according to Daniel. After the meeting, candidates will be required to participate in a module, described as something close to a Moodle quiz, where students will have an opportunity to understand the Student Government handbook and policies further.
“With the all candidates meeting, we’ve added a post module that candidates will complete there,” Daniel said. “So, the object with that is to summarize that information and to make one cohesive document that takes the handbook, which is a 27-page document, to try to [simplify] it down to, ‘Here are the most pressing things that you need to be aware of,’ in addition to all of the other policies that take effect with that.”
Another change made to the campaign process was the spending limit of candidates. In the past, spending limits for students running for Student Senate were $200, and for student body officials, the limit was $800. According to Daniel, the change was made through the Campaign Spending Reform Act, a Senate bill to make running for office more accessible.
“Spending limits for this election cycle have been reduced by 50 percent for all student body officers, and then for Senators by 75 percent,” Daniel said. “The goal with that was to lower the barrier of entry, because in my personal opinion, and a consensus of a lot of the people we talked to was that it’s kind of ridiculous that someone can spend an average of $700 and not win the position.”
According to Daniel, additional changes are being talked about in the Board of Elections that have not been passed that would give candidates more information about NC State policies, rules and regulations.
Students interested in running for a position in Student Government or students interested in the timeline of the election this year can visit the Student Government website.
