Ballots for trustee election sent to Alumni

It's election season for the IU board of trustees, and current trustee Cora Smith Breckenridge is the one to beat. Her fate, along with six other candidates vying for her spot, rests in the hands of the 481,000 alumni eligible to vote.\nWhile the election season comes at the same time every year, it only concerns three of the nine seats on the board. Robin Gress, secretary of the board, said that, like the six appointed seats, the three elected seats are held for a three-year term and can be renewed indefinitely. This year Breckenridge is the only trustee whose term is up, and her seat will be decided in a vote by IU's alumni members. \nThe ballots were first mailed to voters May 5, and while most of the ballots were expected to have been sent by last week, the official process for candidacy -- both for the incumbent and the six challengers -- began as far back as January. Then, in accordance with Indiana Code, those interested in candidacy were able to begin collecting the minimum 100 alumni signatures, which were then submitted to the Dean of the University Libraries by April 1. \nNow officials will be collecting the ballots and waiting until June 30, when in the lobby of the Herman B Wells Library, the ballots will be opened and votes will be counted. \nThere are notable exceptions to when all ballots will be received. Those alumni who just graduated in May will not receive their ballots until June. And while ballots will be sent to all alumni prior to the election, those wishing to vote in person can go to the Wells Library from 9 a.m. until the time when all ballots have been counted, which is typically in the early afternoon June 30.\nAlthough ballots are sent out to all of IU's alumni, typically only a fraction are returned. For example, last year only 33,522 ballots were cast and only 31,961 of those were valid.\nAlong with Breckenridge, the candidates for the seat include Trina S. Miller of Granger, Ind., Philip N. Eskew, Jr. of Carmel, Ind., Steve Sanders of Chicago, Carolyn Louise Jordan of Gary, Steven Lloyd Kellam of Carmel, Ind. and Chris Sautter of Washington. The vote-count will be open to the public and the winner's term will begin the following day.