One independent is running against two full tickets in the West Virginia University Student Government Association elections.
This is the first year one person has opposed two tickets for a seat on the SGA Board of Governors, said SGA Vice President Whitney Rae Peters.
Omar Wazir, a senior biology major, is running on a platform of club sports funding and increasing fraternity recruitment.
After being rejected a place on the Mountaineer Choice Ticket, he decided he would run alone.
He said because he was friends with Molly Casto, the vice presidential candidate for the Mountaineer Choice Ticket, he had no interest in interviewing for the PIRATE Party.
"By the time I interviewed with Molly, I had made up my mind," Wazir said. "Either I wanted to run with someone who I was comfortable with, or I would just run by myself."
There are disadvantages to running alone, said Bryan Church, an SGA outreach director, who ran independently for athletic council last year.
"You start off in a little bit of a hole," Church said. "You don’t have other people on a ticket to share the workload with, and it’s hard to get your name on banners and T-shirts."
Thanks to a group of friends and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, Wazir said he is confident he can pick up the slack.
"I’m not going to have nearly as much man power, but I have some good friends who will help me out with posters and everything," Wazir said. "It’s going to be easier, because I’m not going to have to have a whole tickets’ name on them, just mine."
An advantage to running alone is more press coverage, Peters said, because he will not have to compete for the spotlight against other names on a ticket.
Peters said Wazir will be surrounded by a support staff as he will employ his friends.
Peters said she has known Wazir since high school student government and is confident he can run a successful campaign alone.
Talking to groups of people and making his name known is the advice Church offered Wazir about running as an independent.
"It’s a tough road, because it’s pretty difficult to get your name out there," Church said. "It’s a lot of work, but if you win, it’s a big reward."
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