Candidates scarce, application deadline extended

Campaign season for the Student Government Board is less than a week away, and some of the candidates will be late to the party.

Although Wednesday was the deadline for applications to run for SGB, the Board received fewer applications than expected. Last year, there were 18 students running for positions on the Board. Roughly half that amount have turned in applications thus far, according to Aaron Gish, chairman of the Elections Committee. Because of the limited number of applicants, Gish has extended the application deadline to Nov. 2 at 5 p.m. 

“Technically, we do have enough people that there will be a Board next year,” he said. “But I think everybody is pretty much in agreement that it would be nice if there were more options to get students to vote on election day.”

Because there were students who did turn their packets in by the original deadline, campaigning for those candidates will begin on schedule on Oct. 31.

Gish said candidates already set up appointments with organizations to address students before the deadline was extended, and he did not think it would be fair to force the candidates to reschedule those events.

For the latecomers, campaigning will begin on Nov. 4.

The date set for the election, Nov. 21, has not changed.

Gish said he does not think this will interfere with the election’s results. Last year, students had roughly 21 days to campaign. This year, they will have about 17 days.

He also said that this year’s application packets were advertised more than in previous years.

Although Gish said he was optimistic that more applications would come in before the new deadline, he said he couldn’t explain the shortage in applicants so far this year.

“I don’t really know what the exact reason was,” Gish said. “I would be inclined to say it was a fluke, but I have no clue.”