Two tickets will appear on the ballot for the March 29-30 Student Senate election.
Two tickets, UNITE and Impact, will compete for Ohio University Student Senate seats in the body’s March 29-30 election.
UNITE will be led by presidential candidate Hannah Clouser, vice presidential candidate Courteney Muhl and treasurer candidate Steve Lichtenfels, according to a news release from senate’s Board of Elections. Clouser is senate’s current treasurer.
Impact's executives include presidential candidate Jordan Kelley, vice presidential candidate Alexis Apparicio and treasurer candidate Kiera Fletcher, according to the release. Both presidential candidates ran on the SOS ticket last year.
Clouser isn’t the only candidate with senate experience. All six executive candidates are current senate members. Kelley serves as university life commissioner, Muhl is a Health Science and Professions senator, Apparicio is a senator at-large, Fletcher is senate’s multicultural Greek representative and Lichtenfels is a SAC at-large senator.
Last year, five tickets participated in the senate election. The SOS ticket won all but four seats, including all three executive positions.
“I think a couple years ago there was a lot of fire around Student Senate, and it got really kicked up two years ago I believe,” Kate Clausen, a senior serving on senate’s Board of Elections, said. “We had people talking about Student Senate a lot, and I think that has died down with this current Student Senate administration, which I think is a positive thing. It’s not died down because they’re boring and not doing anything. It’s died down because I think they’re doing a really good job.”
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Candidates will begin a “passive campaign period” Thursday that allows campaign-related material to be posted on web pages and social networks. In addition, candidates may schedule appointments with student organizations but cannot attend organization meetings until the active campaign period begins March 17.
Last year, at least one ticket, Student Nation, misunderstood rules pertaining to the active campaign period, according to a previous Post report.
Senate passed several resolutions related to elections last semester, including resolutions to extend the campaign season.
Monday night, candidates met with senate’s Board of Elections in Baker Center to discuss campaign rules and procedures. 18 students, including six board members, were in attendance.
“I know that student senate did a lot of changing of the rules and did a lot for that,” Jeffrey Billingslea, a junior serving on senate’s Board of Elections, said. “So really we just want to enforce those and do things like this meeting today, making things as clear as possible for everyone.”
Another meeting with the board will be held Tuesday evening for candidates who couldn’t attend Monday’s session.
“We’re definitely going to try to be more proactive this year and help with any miscommunication that might happen,” Aly Ruhl, Board of Elections chair, said.
The online ballot for the election will be accessible to all OU students, and students will receive an email with voting information prior the election, according to the release.
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