Only one ticket meets IUSA election deadline

FROM IDS REPORTS

Movement for IUSA will remain the only official ticket running in the IU Student Association election. The application deadline passed March 8 and Movement for IUSA was the only ticket that had submitted an application by the due date.

The Election Commission held a meeting last night to decide how this one-ticket race will affect the rest of the election timeline. However, an official decision will be announced at 8 p.m. today at the all-candidate meeting during IUSA Congress after the commission has had a chance to discuss the unusual situation with IUSA Advisor R.J. Woodring, said Chair of Election Commission Evan Farrell.   

“The ideal situation would be competition where both IUSA and the student body benefits,” Farrell said.  

Farrell said that, according to Richard McKaig, who served as dean of students from 1971 to 2009, that

McKaig could not remember another time when a one-party election occurred.  

Current IUSA Treasurer Kyle Straub, Movement for IUSA presidential candidate, said he has mixed feelings about being the only ticket in the election, though he said it didn’t come as too much of a surprise when the deadline passed without any other applicants. Movement for IUSA began planning their campaign in December, and Straub said the members tried to constantly be aware of other tickets and, as time went on, they never received word of anyone else planning to run.   

“I’m choosing to take it as a testament to the success of the current administration,” Straub said. “We had to fight extremely hard to come into office last year, and I think we’ve really proven ourselves.”

— Michela Tindera