Campus-wide public campaigning for Student Governing Association president and vice president officially begins today, meaning the sidewalks and trees are likely to be covered with campaign materials for the next few weeks.
The annual SGA presidential and vice presidential candidate debate is another step in the process toward electing a new student body president and vice president. The debate will be held Wednesday from noon to 1:00 p.m. in the K-State Student Union Courtyard, in front of Salsarita’s.
This debate offers the opportunity for K-State students to listen to the two candidate groups speak on issues currently affecting the university.
Primary election
The primaries for the SGA elections will be held on Feb. 25 and 26. Traditionally, the primary election is used to reduce the number of teams in the election to two. This year, however, there are only two groups running, so neither group will be eliminated during the primary vote. A vote total will be taken, determining the “winner” of the primary vote.
The last election that featured only two teams from the start was in 2011, when Nate Spriggs and Kate Bormann ran against John Grice and Natalie Rauth. Spriggs and Bormann won both the primary and general elections, by 50.8 percent and 55.8 percent respectively.
Since 2000, the highest number of candidate teams that have officially run for the primary election was nine in 2000. Since 2000, the average number of candidate teams running per year has historically been a little more than five.
Last year, 3,248 people voted in the primary election; currently president and vice-president Eli Schooley and Jake Unruh received 54.25 percent of the votes.
Since 2000, the team that won the primary campaign have won the general election approximately 64 percent of the time.
General election
The general election, held online on the SGA website, will be on March 4 and 5.
The general election will include the final vote for the student body president and vice president pair, positions within the Student Senate, college council positions for each respective college, members of the Union Governing Board and members of the Student Publications Board of Directors. Each position will be determined by the number of votes from students who vote online.
In the 2013 SGA student body president and vice president elections, 3,881 students voted, approximately 14 percent of the total student body. Schooley and Unruh received 60.6 percent of the votes.
Since 2000, the team to receive the highest percentage of total votes was Nate Spriggs and Grant Hill in 2012; they received 71.37 percent of the votes when they ran against Garrett Lister and Allison Penner.
The closest general election race since 2000 took place in 2004 when teams Hayley Urkevich and Erik Ankrom, and Vicki Conner and Jeremy Sandall each received 50.0 percent of the votes. Urkevich and Ankrom received three more votes than their competition, securing the positions.
Since 2000, only one re-election has occurred during the general election. In 2002, Matt Wolters and Mandy Achilles won the original general election with 50.57 percent of the vote. During the subsequent re-election, the opposing team, Zac Cook and Todd Kohman, won with 51.36 percent of the vote.
The two pairs of candidates running are as follows:
Romine and Davis
Jarrett Romine, SGA presidential candidate and sophomore in biology, and Alan “AJ” Davis, SGA vice presidential candidate and sophomore in finance.
– Improve the SafeRide program at K-State by making it more utilized and effective for those who need it.
– Address the lack of parking opportunities on campus. A solution they offer is paying to park in the athletic stadiums parking lots and being bused to campus.
– Open up Bosco Student Plaza on weekends for a community market which might encourage some students to start business ventures.
– Put a pond on the lawn across from Anderson Hall, leaving a lasting monument on campus.
– Bring more large name performers to K-State; the pond in front of Anderson lawn may offer that opportunity.
Kays and Kennedy
Reagan Kays, SGA presidential candidate and senior in agribusiness, and Cody Kennedy, SGA vice presidential candidate and junior in mathematics and education are running on their “Your Education, Your Passion, Your Life” campaign.
– Improve the current tutoring situation; they plan to make campus-wide tutoring more streamlined and collaborative
– Provide an online website for student organizations to centralize and collaborate and communicate more effectively
– Improve and provide Leadership Workshops offered through the Office of Student Activities and Services
– Propose a “Medical Amnesty” or “911 Lifeline” or “911 Good Samaritan” piece of legislation to the Kansas Congress to grant limited legal immunity to intoxicated minors who seek medical attention for themselves or others
