Statements of candidacy for the upcoming Student Government Association elections are due Wednesday. Statements of candidacy include general information about a candidate, as well as their 200-word platform stating their motivation for running for office.

Madalyn Vaughn, senior advisor to the SGA president and member of the elections board, said she is optimistic about this year’s election, based on two highly attended candidate interest meetings.

Students can run for one of the fifty senate seats, which are allocated by college, or one of seven executive offices. In last year’s election, all but one of the executive offices was unopposed, which Vaughn said was a unique situation. However, Vaughn said aside from adding a new section about election fraud to the official manual, all of the SGA rules will stay the same this year, but the election process itself will be slightly different.

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“The main change that we’ve made [is that] we’re going to put the statement of intent on the ballot this year, which is a new thing, so when people go to vote for those positions right next to [the candidate’s] name will be their 200-word statement of intent,” Vaughn said. “That’s something new this year to give students more opportunity to learn about the candidates.”

Eugene Berry, a junior majoring in pediatric studies, has previously been involved with SGA and said he is planning to run for a senate seat this year.

“I’m hoping that, if nothing else, we’re able to get awareness out about who these people are that are in SGA,” Berry said. “It really bothers me how little people actually know the people that are in SGA and what it does for them and the power that SGA has. I would like to enlighten more people on what it is that we do and why we need this and why people should care about the election process.”

Dalton Beasley, a freshman majoring in music administration who is planning to run for senate, said having the statements of candidacy printed on the ballot will increase candidates’ accountability to their campaign promises.

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“I’m an open person, and whatever I put beside my name I plan on doing as a candidate,” Beasley said. “So I’m not going to put something in my statement of candidacy that I don’t plan on fulfilling.”

Beasley said even students who aren’t involved in SGA have a responsibility to stay informed about the election and vote.

“I think it’s important for everyone to not necessarily run for student government, but to do everything they can to do benefit the University,” Beasley said. “If only a certain percentage of people vote, then it’s not a true representation of the student body.”

Campaigning officially begins Feb 24. Elections will be held March 11 on mybama.ua.edu.

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