Turnout low as candidates gather nomination signatures

There's nothing quite like asking random strangers for their signatures. But during the past week, those interested in student government at Penn scrambled to complete the first leg of student government elections by doing just that. Students had to collect signatures as part of the candidate packets to run for either the Undergraduate Assembly or the class boards. The Nominations and Elections Committee set Wednesday, March 7 as the deadline for packets to be turned in. According to NEC Chairman and Wharton senior Nick Goad, although the NEC used "very standard amounts of publicity" in promoting the candidacy process, the turnout remained below expectations. "The turnout for candidates was surprisingly low," Goad said. NEC Vice Chairwoman of Elections and College junior Anne Hankey explained the low turnout, saying, "It's a little disappointing, but it's to be expected.... A lot of sophomores are going abroad." While sufficient numbers of candidates have applied to run for Undergraduate Assembly positions, the NEC re-opened the rising senior and rising junior class boards for more applications due to a lack of initial interest. The body extended the deadline for prospective candidates for these two class boards to March 20. Contrary to the other two class boards, the rising sophomore class board received applications for every position. "Actually, I'm not surprised by that because the freshman class board did a really, really great job, and the same people are running again," Hankey said of the enthusiasm of current freshmen running for their class board. While Hankey cites studying abroad as a source for the lack of current sophomores running for student government positions, she was unable to pinpoint the reason for the few candidates for the rising senior board. "I'm surprised... by the rising seniors," she said. "I kind of expected more people to run." The NEC will hold a mandatory candidates' meeting on March 21 and candidates can begin campaigning on the morning of March 22. Elections begin March 28 and conclude April 3 at 5 p.m. In order to run for a student government position, students must complete a candidate packet, which includes petitions for candidacy. These petitions require signatures from the student constituency. The number of signatures required ranges from six signatures for class board Nursing representative to 311 for senior class president. The number of signatures a candidate must collect depends on the number of students in the particular class or school that he hopes to represent. College freshman and current UA member Jamie Berg said the candidacy process -- of which she was a part this week -- was intense. "It takes a lot of time and effort, but it's good because you get to know the people that are voting for you," Berg explained. According to UA Chairman Michael Bassik, a significant number of current UA members are running again for next year. Of the 27 students running for College positions in the UA, for instance, 11 are current UA members looking for another year in office. "I think it looks like a very competitive race," said Bassik, a College senior. "I see a lot of talented UA members and new students running, and it looks like no matter who wins, the UA is going to be very strong in the year to come."