The Democratic presidential primary isn't the only highly contested election this spring - more students than ever are running for positions in next year's student government.
A total of 73 students are competing for 83 positions, according to Colleen Donovan, the vice chair for elections for the Nominations and Elections Committee, which is in charge of the elections process. The discrepancy in the number of students is a result of some students running for multiple positions.
41 students are running for the UA, and 42 students are running for positions on the Class Boards, added Donovan.
The numbers are significantly higher compared to the number of students who ran in past years. Last spring a total of 70 students ran for 74 positions.
The UA Wharton representative is the most highly-contested spot this year, with 13 candidates vying for five positions, compared to five candidates running for four positions last year.
"I think all the hotly-contested races are a testament to the fact that student government's impact on campus is more recognized and students are beginning to have more ideas they'd like to implement," Donovan said.
Minor changes to this year's election process include a change to the Fair Practices Code, which lists election regulations, that allows joint and dual-degree students to run in either their home schools or in their alternate schools. Candidates were previously required to run in their home schools.
To promote awareness about the elections, the NEC has put up bright yellow posters and sent e-mails to listservs and student organizations.
About half of the candidates running have filmed 90-second video clips answering questions about themselves and their platforms in order to better connect with voters. The videos are available on dailypennsylvanian.com, the Web site of The Daily Pennsylvanian.
The videos will be shown at the annual "Get Out the Vote" elections kickoff this Thursday evening from 5 to 7 p.m. at 37th Street and Locust Walk, where candidates will be on hand to answer questions.
Voting will begin this Friday morning and will run until next Tuesday.
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