The Student Association (SA) Student Congress voted to push back campuswide elections for the 2018-19 SA Executive Board in a meeting on Monday night.
The election, originally scheduled for March 15, will be postponed to March 20. Sweeps were planned for Feb. 27, but are now scheduled for March 13. Letters of intent will be due on Feb. 26 by 5 p.m.
Bryana Snyder, the SA Congress speaker and a senior majoring in human development, said the decision came after Congress representatives voiced concerns about the election’s promotion.
“Tonight, Congress voted to change the election timeline,” Snyder wrote in an email. “This was due to the fact that Congress representatives believed the information about running was not advertised sufficiently.”
Four candidates would have been running uncontested for the vice president for finance, vice president for academic affairs, vice president for multicultural affairs and vice president for programming positions in the election. Harry Bittker, an SA Congress representative and a junior majoring in political science, said he thought the original election date worked, but could also see why Congress chose to move it back.
“If Congress hadn’t come to the consensus that it was absolutely necessary, I would have been comfortable with the original timeline,” Bittker said. “But Congress deemed that because the advertisement never made it to SA Line, not enough students had the opportunity to consider running, so we had to push it back.”
SA President Jermel McClure, a senior majoring in political science, said he supports the decision and hopes to see more participation in the election as a result of the extension.
“I support the congressional representatives’ decision to extend the election timeline,” McClure said. “Allowing representatives more time to promote the election is a great way to foster more participation in the election. I look forward to a great election season, and I can’t wait to see who our campus elects.”
The SA will heavily advertise the new deadline for letters of intent and aim to reach more students, according to Bittker.
“We’ll be advertising the extended submission period throughout the next week through a variety of media, including SA Line, additional flyers, social media and through our respective community governments,” Bittker said.
Students who wish to run must submit a letter of intent and a petition with 250 valid signatures to the SA office by 5 p.m. on Feb. 26.