With between two and four tickets expected to campaign during February’s Student Government Association election at West Virginia University, nearly 20 prospective SGA members attended an informational forum on elections Monday evening.
The forum discussed SGA’s Elections Codes, possible platforms, the elections process and how to get involved with student government, whether running for a position or being appointed a seat.
This was the first elections forum held since Jason Gross was SGA president in 2006-07. The point of it, said SGA Vice President Whitney Rae Peters, was to involve students who would have otherwise missed the opportunity.
"I don’t think (the last forum) happened until January, so whenever we came into the informational session there were already two distinct sides," Peters said. "I didn’t see that tonight and I’m glad I didn’t see that."
SGA President Jason Zuccari and Peters provided a packet with campaign information on utilizing posters, Web sites and T-shirts, among other things.
"Probably after you decide you want to get involved the most important decision you make is if you want to run on a ticket or run independent," Peters said.
The packet informs students of the advantages – saving money on campaign material, more interaction and the opportunity to network with other constituencies – and the disadvantages – relying on other ticket members to promote instead of self reliance – of running on a ticket.
Other student leaders are often left out because of how SGA has formed tickets in the past, said SGA Gov. Taylor Richmond, who announced his presidential candidacy Oct. 21.
"I think it’s not fair, and I think the whole process throughout the few years is unfair," he said. "The Elections Code encourages and entices behaviors as to how tickets are formed. Forums like this are very beneficial not only to the process but SGA as a whole."
Passion, everyone agreed, is key to SGA involvement.
"If you’re not extremely passionate about it, just because you’re popular doesn’t mean you need to be involved in student government," said Chief of Staff Chris Lewallen. "This is serious. We’re working for the students, and you’re going to work hard."
SGA Elections Co-chairs Matt Gutta and Ben Dooley went over common Elections Code violations and told students their roles within the campaign, which include enforcers and consultants.
"Basically, the elections chair and the attorney general, we use discretion to take any violations to the Judicial Board," Gutta said. "We’re kind of the first line of defense against any violations and anything that happens within the election."
Most students in attendance felt the meeting helped them get more involved with SGA.
"You gotta get out there and make your friends, find those people you want to run with," said Derek Garrette, a sophomore animal nutrition major. "You gotta bond together."
Freshman industrial engineer major Ryan Campione received more information than expected from the discussion.
"They were really thorough and asked if we had any questions over and over again," Campione said.
Most in attendance were impressed with the turnout, though SGA hosted more than 100 freshmen at its first meeting.
"The first meeting we had 100, maybe 10 for the second and the third only two or three," Peters said. "I was actually kind of worried about tonight if students would come out."
For those who weren’t in attendance but are interested in SGA, informational packets and copies of the Elections Code are available in the student organizations wing of the Mountainlair.
For more information, e-mail Peters at whitney.peters@mail.wvu.edu.
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