Students interested in running for a position within West Virginia University’s Student Government Association are invited to attend a session spotlighting the election process.
The session is aimed at students with no prior SGA experience, but are interested in running for a position, said SGA Vice President Whitney Rae Peters.
"We want to give students more information on the elections," she said. "Some kids want to run but don’t know when it even starts. This will give them the basic information."
The session will include an overview of SGA President Jason Zuccari and Peters’ campaign as an example of a typical election.
"We are just giving out what we did because it worked for us," she said.
The packet has phone numbers to order posters and coupon cards, addresses to order T-shirts and how to order a Web site, she said.
Getting more people interested to diversify the Board of Governors is one of the hopes for the session, said SGA Gov. Molly Wilson.
Meeting other students who want to run can work as a networking tool, she added.
"Now, people that are trying to find candidates for their tickets don’t have to look to their friends," she said. "They can look to other students who are interested."
Wilson said many people plan to run, which means a lot of tickets with open spots.
Members of SGA will answer questions about their campaigning experiences and offer advice such as the benefits and disadvantages of running independently.
Giving more information on the different positions might get students interested in running for executive or public relations positions, Peters said.
Even though elections aren’t until February, it is not too early to start spreading the word because most campaigning plans get done during winter break, Wilson said.
"We don’t want candidates to miss out who aren’t in the loop," she said. "A lot of planning happens over break. Mostly, forming your ticket or figuring out if you are running independently and deciding who you are going to campaign to."
Potential SGA candidates can pick up application packets Jan. 25 that will be turned in Feb. 5. Campaigning begins Feb. 14, according to the election time line.
The SGA elections informational session will be held in Hatfields in the Mountainlair at 6:30 p.m.
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