With just a week until votes are cast, candidates for the Undergraduate Assembly and class boards gathered in Logan Hall yesterday to learn about the guidelines of the upcoming campaigns. Also at last night's meeting, a final list of candidates for the upcoming elections was drawn up. Candidates officially will begin campaigning today at 6 a.m., and students will be able to vote online from March 28 to April 3. The winners will be announced on April 4. College junior Anne Hankey, Nominations and Elections Committee vice chairwoman of elections, said that though she was pleased with overall turnout, there were several openings in the class boards that she expected would have been filled. "I'm pretty happy with the way everything is going," she said. "It surprises me that no one wants to drop down for class boards." Currently, there are three openings in both the rising junior and rising senior class boards. Over 60 hopeful future campus leaders gathered in the Terrace Room yesterday evening. Forty-five students are running for UA positions, down significantly from last year, when 60 candidates ran for the body and also fewer than in 1999, when 53 students ran for the spots on the assembly. The vast majority of those running for the UA -- a total of 31 students -- come from the College, with five others coming from the School of Engineering and Applied Science, seven from the Wharton School and two from the Nursing School. Unlike last year, where the tightest race was among the 15 Wharton students running for the school's four available spots, this year's most heated race will likely be among the School of Arts and Sciences candidates. There are only 16 seats for the 31 candidates running. Four seats will be distributed to the winners among the five Engineering candidates, with one seat going to the victorious of the two Nursing students. Among the class boards, the race for the presidency of the rising junior and rising senior Class Boards will be tight -- four students from each year are running for the single slot. The candidate for the presidency of the rising sophomore class board, however, is running unopposed. Last night's event focused on the Fair Practices Code, which outlines restrictions for campaigning. At the end of elections on April 4, the NEC will hold a hearing to determine whether there have been violations of the code, which includes restrictions on campaign items like posters. The intent of the code is "to make sure there is a fair and unbiased election," Hankey said. To kick off elections next week, the NEC is sponsoring a "Get Out the Vote Event" next Wednesday, an opportunity for candidates to get to meet the student body. College freshman Rea Harrison, who is running to be a SAS representative on the UA, hopes that she will be able to make herself known in order to beat the stiff competition among the SAS students. "I hope that my name is already out there from running for freshman class president at the beginning of the year, but I think it's going to be difficult winning against upperclassmen for SAS representative," she said. Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer Christina Yang contributed to this article.
Comments powered by DisqusPlease note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.