[Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect a correction. It was incorrectly reported that to be qualified as a political party, a prospective party must have candidates for Student Body president, vice president and treasurer and have at least six candidates for the Student Senate. To be qualified as a party, a prospective party needs candidates for Student Body president, vice president and treasurer, or have at least six candidates for the Student Senate.]
Two political parties will be shoving Student Government elections fliers at students on campus this week, but 10 other prospective parties were registered when candidates started qualifying.
Unite Party members and supporters registered old party names for the Feb. 21 and 22 elections, but the parties did not field any candidates for the elections when the Unite Party and Students Party did in January.
Supervisor of Elections Toni Megna said when a party name is registered, no one else can use that name.
Unite Party spokeswoman Christina Bonarrigo registered as president of the Swamp Party.
She said members of the Unite Party register other party names as tradition. Whoever registers a party is the party's president.
She said party members did this during Fall 2011 and Spring 2011 elections.
"We do that every semester in case we change names or use a different name," she said. She didn't know if the Unite Party name was chosen this way.
According to the SG election codes, a political party may not select a name that is similar to a party that has campaigned in the last three election cycles.
Also, a party cannot have the same name as any student organization registered with the Center for Student Activities and Involvement or a name that the Supervisor of Elections determines might cause confusion.
The 10 prospective party names were used in elections from more than three cycles ago.
During the fall elections, five parties were registered besides the Unite Party and the Students Party. However, SG does not keep files beyond that.
Because these party names do not re-register, they get deleted, said Student Activities and Involvement program coordinator Rachel Rollo.
She said the names are registered as student organizations but get deleted after the year like any other inactive organization.
This year's registered names will remain in the database until September, she said.
Anyone is allowed to register a prospective political party. However, to be qualified as a political party, a prospective party must have candidates for Student Body president, vice president and treasurer or have at least six candidates for the Student Senate.
This is Rollo's first year working with SG elections, but she said there are usually more names registered than the ones that run.
Current Unite Party Agriculture Sen. Katie Waldman registered as the president of the Key Party.
She said she knew the deadline to register was coming up, and she wanted to exercise her right as a student to register a party.
