A special election for student government president is on the horizon following Taylor Dumpson’s resignation on Jan. 26.
Campaigning will begin on Feb. 10, following three information sessions for potential candidates this week, according to a timeline sent to students Monday via email.
Voting will begin at noon on Feb. 21 and end at noon on Feb. 23. The winner of the election will announced later in the day on Feb. 23.
Student government’s constitution states that a “special election shall be administered within 30 calendar days” of the president’s removal. Any student enrolled full-time in good academic standing can run, according to the constitution. To be in good academic standing, a candidate must have a minimum 2.5 cumulative GPA and must not have any student code violations.
Before candidates officially appear on the ballot, they must turn in signatures from other students supporting their candidacy to Jacob DeGoes, SG elections commissioner. This step, referred to as the “nomination convention,” will be Feb. 15.
“The convention is simply the meeting wherein candidates turn over these signatures to me and I confirm that they are valid before sending the list of candidates that do qualify over to Student Activities,” DeGoes said.
Although the spring executive elections for the 2018-2019 academic year are approaching, the special election will not affect the regular election, DeGoes said.
“The spring executive elections will be the same as they always are, and the presidency will still be up for election,” DeGoes said.
The winner of the special election will serve out Dumpson’s term, which is set to end in the beginning of May, DeGoes told The Eagle. Christine Machovec, who previously served as comptroller, is currently interim president.
“Whoever wins the special election is of course able to run for re-election in a couple of months when the regular election season begins, but they are not forced to nor are they an automatic shoo-in to win,” DeGoes said.
The regular elections for the SG executive board positions — president, vice president, secretary and comptroller — will still happen in March.
