The IU Student Association election commission is preparing for this semester’s elections by announcing its timeline and changes for the year.
To be eligible to run, students do not need to have been previously involved in IUSA. Candidates must have at least a 2.5 GPA and either live in the district or be a member of the school they wish to represent.
Sophomore Savannah Wormley, head of marketing for the commission, said it is important for students to know they can all participate.
“We want everybody to know this is not exclusive,” Wormley said. “If you feel like you would be a good representative for students, think about running.”
At its final voting meeting of the fall, IUSA passed numerous changes to the election code. Although most were minor, senior Adam Kehoe, chair of the commission, said a few were significant.
One change is a budget increase for executive tickets, from $3,000 to $4,000 to accommodate for inflation, Kehoe said.
“Hopefully, it will give tickets the opportunity to raise more awareness about the election,” Kehoe said. “We thought it’d give them an opportunity to be more creative.”
The commission also changed sections in the code regarding donations and fair market value. Last year, an executive ticket was disqualified because they did not claim all of their donations as fair market value.
Amplify for IUSA won the election, but was disqualified because it failed to include branded T-shirts and a miniature pony in its financial statement, going $959.60 over budget.
After this incident, the commission clarified all candidates have to claim any donations they receive for fair market value, not the amount they actually receive, Kehoe said.
Those running can be elected in two ways: through an executive ticket or on their own as a congressional representative.
An executive ticket consists of four people who run together — president, vice president of administration, vice president of Congress and treasurer. Those running for a spot on Congress run individually.
“The duty of Congress would be like the voice of students and to represent a specific school or a specific constituency like in dorms or living arrangements,” Kehoe said.
Although elections are not until April 6 and 7, those who wish to run have work to do throughout the semester. The commission will hold an election call-out meeting at 7 p.m. Feb. 18 in Woodburn Hall, room 007.
“This is kind of the opportunity for anyone who’s interested in running at all to be in IUSA,” Kehoe said. “They’d get very basic information and ask questions and meet us.”
Once the call-out meeting is over, applications will be released. Anyone who wishes to run must fill out an application and turn it in by March 9.
On March 31, all those running on an executive ticket will participate in a debate. During the debate, all tickets will be given a chance for opening and closing statements. In between, they are asked the same questions where candidates usually focus on policies they hope to implement, previous experiences they’ve had and opinions on campus issues, Kehoe said.
Founded last year, the election commission is a group of 10 students, undergraduate or graduate, who are responsible for facilitating a fair student election. Kehoe said one of the big reasons for having the commission is impartiality.
“We serve as the overarching rule-making body for the election,” Wormley said. “We make sure the election process runs smoothly.”
Wormley said one of the commission’s big goals is to have greatervoter turnout and more involvement by the student body.
Last year, around 8,200 students voted. The commission would still like that number to increase, Kehoe said.
“We’d love to get that number up,” Kehoe said. “It’s a big increase from years past, but we’d still love more voters.”
