Days after its election, Ohio University's Student Senate will consider cutting candidates' campaigning time in half.
City and County Affairs Commissioner Emily Hanford will propose a resolution tonight to shorten the campaign period for senate's elections from 30 days to two weeks, starting next year.
A lot of students get annoyed after a while and lose interest in whole election
Hanford said. What we do in four weeks if you compress it you can do the same thing in two weeks.
Student Senate President Robert Leary agreed that four weeks is too long.
The decreased time period will benefit both students and candidates, Leary said
A lot of people tell me they get annoyed at the people handing out flyers and handbills
Leary said. I can see the reasoning for four weeks
because it gives people more time to get knowledge on candidates
but I think two weeks is sufficient.
President-Elect Jesse Neader offered a similar view, saying one disadvantage to a shorter campaign period is that there would be less time to dig into candidates' backgrounds.
However, Neader said the month he spent campaigning took time away from his classes.
During that month
we let go of our academic career and put it on the back burner
and that's unfortunate
Neader said. Now we're having to catch up.
Several weeks ago, senate passed a resolution extending the voting period to two days starting next year.
Hanford said she supported that resolution mainly because of the possibility the campaign period would be shortened. A shorter campaign period would complement the longer voting time, she said.
It would also allow students to spend less money on campaigning, as well as give them more time for studying, Hanford said.
Our job is still to be full-time students
she said. There is a lot of energy put into a month-long campaign.
