For the first time in several years, Associated Student Government (ASG) will be holding a competitive election Thursday to select next year's off-campus senators.
According to Jeremy Harrell, executive vice president, there are 42 students running for a total of 24 senator positions.
In order to be elected to ASG, hopeful senators must have turned in a petition with at least 35 signatures by Wednesday, April 16.
Off-campus senators are charged with representing all Miami University students who do not live in the dorms on campus, including fraternity houses. Three of the 24 students elected will be specified as fraternity senators. The other senators will receive districts, which are drawn after elections.
Harrell explained that all seniors may vote and any students who have not signed up for on-campus housing are also eligible to vote in the elections.
The elections will be held on BannerWeb from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Voters can log-on and select up to 13 candidates. According to Harrell, 13 was selected since it is half of the available senator positions plus one.
In the event of a tie, Harrell said that the senate would select the final senators next year, although he does not expect a tie to occur.
This will be the first election following ASG's decision to shift the off-campus senator elections from the fall to the spring.
Brendan Buholzer, ASG treasurer and candidate for off-campus senator, said he thinks that the new election time is responsible for attracting more candidates than usual.
"People who got involved at the student body elections two months ago still want to be involved," Buholzer said.
Harrell attributes the increased interest to the productivity of this year's senate.
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"In my opinion, this year's student government has done a lot," Harrell said. "It's spread, getting people excited and wanting to get involved."
Buholzer said he also believes that holding elections in the spring will allow ASG to get a jump-start on next year.
"There were problems with having elections in the fall," Buholzer said. "ASG gets off to a slow start since we have to get everyone up to speed with training. Doing elections in the spring for off-campus fills up half the senate before it's even summer."
Harrell expects most of the candidates will advertise, generating student interest and encouraging them to vote.
"I think we'll have a great turn out," Harrell said. "It's hard to gauge because it's the first time we've had this type of election, so there's no precedent for making an estimate."
Harrell explained that the candidates not elected on Thursday could serve as a list of "go-to" people who are interested in helping with ASG by joining committees, although not in the capacity of an official senator.
At the April 15 ASG meeting, Harrell introduced an emergency piece of legislation to enable this election to take place. ASG's bylaws provided for a voting process using a single-transferable vote, in which a tie is not possible. However, the university does not currently have the correct technology to carry out that system.
Harrell explained that Doug Haynes, president of the senate-elect, will purchase the software before next year's elections so that the single-transferable vote system will be in place by next spring.
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