Rock the vote: UA elections nearing

While only two weeks ago Penn students were talking about Super Tuesday primaries, the undergraduate community will now be focusing on the election of different leaders -- their own. Undergraduate Assembly and class board candidates were introduced to the Fair Practices Code at last night's candidates' meeting in Steinberg-Dietrich Hall. The candidates will begin campaigning today at 6 a.m. and elections will begin next Wednesday. Nominations and Elections Committee Vice Chairwoman for Elections Teresa Lee said that turnouts have been good this year, with strong responses for the UA and slightly weaker turnouts for the class boards. "Elections look like they are going to be [great]," the Wharton and Engineering junior said. "They're going to be big," College senior and NEC Chairwoman Christine Naselaris said. "[We're] expecting a high voter turnout." Sixty students will be running for 25 seats available on the Undergraduate Assembly. The eight remaining seats will be given to incoming freshmen, who will be running in the fall. This number is slightly higher than last year's, when 53 candidates were seeking spots on the UA. Of the 60 candidates, 25 percent are current UA members -- seven students from the College of Arts and Sciences, three from the Engineering School and five from Wharton -- seeking re-election. Like last year, the Wharton race for UA spots will be the tightest, as 15 candidates will be running for the four available spots. There are 35 candidates running for 16 College seats, nine candidates running for the four Engineering seats and one Nursing student running unopposed for the seat from her school. Nineteen sophomores will be running for the 10 seats on the Sophomore Class Board. Turnouts for the junior and senior class boards, however, were lackluster. As of the Wednesday before spring break, the NEC had only received a total of nine candidates for the 20 positions available. The lack of candidates caused the NEC to extend the deadline for all class board candidates to yesterday afternoon and reduce the signature requirement from about 300 to 50 signatures. Under the the extended deadline and easier procedure, 31 more students applied. Lee said approximately 25 percent of the current class board members are seeking re-election. Elections will begin next Wednesday. For the first time ever, students will be able to vote on Penn InTouch. Paper ballots will become mere memories as polling stations become unavailable for the first time. Since the elections period overlaps with fall pre-registration, Lee hopes to see a high voter turnout because students will already be accessing the site. Lee said there are no expected problems with the program at the moment. While some might have thought that this year's ballots would include referenda, Lee said that is unlikely. "At this time no one has approached the NEC [with a referendum]," Lee said. Ballots will be available online at 8 a.m. next Wednesday and the NEC will be sponsoring a "Get Out the Vote" event that day, mimicking the MTV effort to encourage young voters. Candidates will hand out pizza on College Green and will be talking to potential voters. Various performing arts groups will also be performing throughout the day. A special focus will be placed on advertising Penn InTouch, Lee said. Election results will be announced at NEC's FPC hearing on April 6.

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