REAL ticket to drop from IUSA elections

The REAL ticket is dropping out of the IU Student Association elections, ticket organizers said, citing a lack of financial means and an inability to connect with the student body as primary reasons.

Ticket members decided late last week they were unprepared to be successful in the elections and will officially announce their decision today, said junior Sam Miller, the ticket’s presidential candidate.

“We got started really late to campaign,” Miller said. “Other tickets were further underway.”

Ticket executives needed money and sponsors to compete, Miller said, and did not realize how great of a financial burden the ticket would take on during the campaign.
Miller and Nick Pavilonis, REAL ticket vice presidential candidate, will support the Red-Hot ticket, but the REAL ticket as a whole is split on which ticket it will support, Miller said.

Two of the REAL ticket executives met with some of their Red-Hot ticket counterparts, including presidential candidate Andrew Hahn, vice presidential candidate Mary Kelley and candidate for treasurer Pat Rodgers, and said they had similar thoughts on the big issues at hand, Pavilonis said.

Red-Hot ticket members liked the REAL ticket’s first platform idea – the long-term solution committee – and wanted to implement it into their platform, Miller and Pavilonis said.

“We are excited to have more people in the campaign committee in Red-Hot to help us better represent all IU students,” Hahn said.

Hahn said Miller and Pavilonis will help strengthen the Red-Hot leadership and add to the entire Red-Hot team.

The race started with five tickets, but the Hoosier ticket and the REAL ticket have both dropped out, leaving three tickets in the race: the Red-Hot ticket, the ONE University ticket and the Btown ticket.

Senior Dan Sloat, IUSA vice president, said because the IUSA tickets are vying for a similar voting base, the race is bound to get competitive.