Letters of intent for 2016-2017 Student Association (SA) E-board positions were due on Friday, Feb. 19, and all candidates were approved for elections in Student Congress on Monday night.
The positions available are president, executive vice president, vice president for academic affairs, vice president for finance, vice president for multicultural affairs and vice president for programming.
Nicholas Ferrara, Adina Matos and Ruslan Klafehn, the current vice president for multicultural affairs, are running for president. Raaga Rajagopala and Justin Santabarbara submitted letters of intent for executive vice president. Bradley McBride and Adam Wilkes are running for vice president for academic affairs. Kate Tashman, the current vice president for finance, will be running for re-election against Serena Tesler. Jermel McClure, Jr. is running against Tori Peña for vice president for multicultural affairs, and Max Maurice is running unopposed for vice president for programming.
Candidates may begin campaigning on Feb. 23. Each candidate has an $80 spending limit for campaigning and access to SA Ink for a maximum of 300 full-sheet flyers and four posters. All other SA resources are off-limits for campaigning purposes, including Listservs.
Putting up flyers is allowed in dining halls, but solicitation is prohibited. All types of campaigning are allowed in the Marketplace and Glenn G. Bartle Library.
Any executive board, judicial board or member of the legislative body can endorse a candidate. If an organization publicizes its endorsement, it must mention endorsements for more than one position, or mention other positions. No group can explicitly say to vote for an endorsed candidate, and members of the Planning, Research and Elections Committee (PRE) and Student Congress are prohibited from endorsing candidates.
Sweeps will be held on Tuesday, March 8. Each candidate will have the opportunity to give a three-minute speech to each housing community, followed by a five-minute question and answer session. Afterward, housing communities will also endorse candidates.
PRE will confirm the ballot with a two-thirds majority in Student Congress on Wednesday, March 9 and elections will be held on Friday, March 11. On the day of elections, all campaigning flyers must be removed from any designated voting areas and campaigning is prohibited within 100 feet of these locations. Voting centers will be the Pods in Science Library, the Information Commons in the Glenn G. Bartle Library and the Chenango Champlain Collegiate Center (C4) Pods.
A candidate must receive at least 40 percent of votes to win, and candidate positions on the ballot are randomized. If no candidate receives a 40 percent plurality, run-off elections will occur between the top two candidates. Each will receive 150 full-sheet copies from SA Ink and $40 for additional campaigning. Write-ins are prohibited in run-off elections, and the candidate that receives the majority of votes will win.