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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

PLUS unopposed in IUSA election

IU Student Association will have a single-ticket election for the third time in 10 years.
PLUS for IUSA is the only executive ticket running, making current IUSA member Andy Braden next year’s projected student body president.

At the All Candidates Meeting Monday, Election Commissioner Jared Thomas said the election would still take place, and PLUS still needs to run a campaign.

“You guys are going to be the representatives for this upcoming year,” Thomas said.
Voting will be open April 1 and 2.

According to the Election Code, the election must run as planned, even if only one ticket has applied. There is no possibility of pushing back the deadline to allow more people to apply.

Braden said he was disappointed that PLUS does not have a ticket to run against.
“We were looking forward to having a competitive campaign season,” Braden said. “It’s not healthy for IUSA to just have one ticket running.”

All four of the PLUS executive members have been involved with IUSA at some point in the past. But Braden said many members of senior staff and Congress are fresh members who have not been involved in IUSA. 

Although Unify IU for IUSA had declared its intention to run against PLUS for IUSA, it never submitted an application and dropped just days before the deadline.

Freshman Andrew Ireland, the presidential candidate for Unify IU for IUSA, said his ticket had gained 45 prospective candidates, but he did not think they could compete with PLUS.

He said PLUS had secured votes “by recycling much of the current IUSA administration and bringing on board many strategic Greek organizations.”

“This was no easy decision, but we simply did not have the time to run and develop a winning campaign,” Ireland said. “It was a huge disappointment both personally and to everyone involved, but we were simply naïve coming in to the rather undermining culture associated with the IUSA elections.”

Ireland said he is running for Forest Residence Center’s delegate to IUSA and recommends that everyone involved with Unify consider running as well, either independently or with another ticket.

Braden said one of the goals of PLUS is to review the Election Code in the near future and make sure everyone has a chance in IUSA
elections. 

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