The UT Elections Commission held a mandatory election interest meeting Thursday evening in the UC Shiloh Room for all prospective candidates for the March elections.
About 75 students attended. Commission members distributed three sheets of notebook paper around the room for students to write their contact information and the position they were running for.
Dressed in a black suit, Jovica Djurdevic, SGA election commissioner, began the meeting by explaining some objectives of running for SGA using a PowerPoint presentation. Other commission members sat idly up front in business causal attire.
“Students form political parties — they do whatever they have to,” Djurdevic, senior in economics, said during the presentation. “They work together in political parties to achieve a common goal which is to better the overall student life on campus.”
The presentation also included key campaign dates. Candidates can launch websites on Feb. 19 at 3 p.m., but the official campaign week begins Sunday, March 25. Candidates were advised that distributing party paraphernalia and any other form of campaigning is forbidden before campaign week; however, executive candidates can wear campaign paraphernalia such as T-shirts if they choose. Voting ends on Wednesday, March 28, at 5 p.m.
The commission opened the floor for questions after the presentation. Many questions were posed concerning campaign regulations and social media, and some students seemed unsatisfied with the answers.
“Facebook — we don’t control Facebook,” Djurdevic said. “You can put whatever you want, but you can’t make an event prior to campaign week on Facebook. Anything on campus — anything physical — you can’t do it.”
The commission also advised students that Facebook profiles cannot be created prior to the official website launch date on Feb. 19.
According to the commission, candidates are no longer able to campaign on the Strip.
“We decided to go ahead and change that because we were looking around after campaigns and seeing that a lot of (campaign material) wasn’t cleaned up,” Maria Dill, election commission member and senior in political science, said.
Dill also said the change came from conflicts between candidates for areas of the Strip to campaign.
“We just want to make sure people aren’t fighting over McDonald’s or the really popular places,” Dill said.
Students can run independently or with a party. The commission said during the meeting that voting is individualized and parties cannot win as a whole.
Running for SGA comes with a hefty price. The total budget for parties is $7,000, and independent candidates have a $2,000 cap.
“You have to think of all the expenses of your party, such as tents, T-shirts, food, where as if you’re an independent you don’t have to worry about your list of senators,” Dill said. “You’re kind of just on your own.”
SGA president Ross Rowland said funds for campaigning can come from party dues and fundraising, and from family.
“A lot of times, students will call friends, parents and grandparents — people like that,” Rowland, senior in public administration, said.
Rowland said that the budget for candidates has decreased.
The two campaigns of note at this point have identified themselves on Facebook as Fuel and Revolt.
Djurdevic said during the presentation that candidates should read their election packet to be sure they have all relevant information.
