Despite 11 parties registering for Student Government Fall elections, only two will move forward with candidate selection.
Erica Baker, the SG supervisor of elections, wrote in an email that multiple parties, including Impact Party and Inspire Party, signed up for Fall elections and were approved. But only Impact Party, which has been participating in SG since Fall 2015, and the new Inspire Party, confirmed Wednesday that they will be interviewing students in an effort to recruit Student Senate candidates.
The other parties that signed up, but will not interview candidates, were Access Party, Action Party, Deeze Nuts Party, Greek Party, Judaism Alliance Party, Keg Party, Pants Party, Swamp Party and The Party Party.
Interviewing will take place from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Tuesday in rooms 3305, 3310, 3315 and 3320 at the Reitz Union.
Campaigning began at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Shortly after, Inspire Party posted a video on their Facebook page promoting their initiatives.
The video mentions listening to student input about what libraries are open 24/7, bringing healthy food options to campus, advocating for more parking space, making it easier to get student organization funding and establishing online voting.
Inspire Party President Ben Lima said they based their ideas off of student concerns that party members observed on campus and on social media.
However, he said the party won’t release an official platform until they finish talking to students on their listening tour, which began Wednesday.
Lima said he believes there’s a way to accomplish all of the initiatives his party announced Tuesday, such as by working on resolutions or changing the SG constitution.
“Were going to try our hardest because that’s all we can do — we’ll fight as hard as we can,” Lima said.
Impact Party President Benjamin Auyang said he saw the Inspire Party video and thinks having competition will encourage both parties to do their best.
“It’s great that more students are getting involved,” Auyang said. “I think that the challenge will produce more results.”
Auyang said he thinks Impact will be willing to work with Inspire if a bipartisan Senate is elected.
“We like to maintain positivity,” he said. “We’ll do whatever will be better for the students.”
Impact Party hasn’t created its platform yet, Auyang said. He said it’s unfair to the Student Body for Impact to assume what they want without talking to them first. His party will release its platform after the senatorial candidates are confirmed.
However, Impact Party already selected two values to focus on during the election: transparency and affordability.
Auyang said affordability refers to keeping student fees down, and transparency involves letting students know about their resources, including public records. He said the details on how the party plans to do this have not been finalized.
“I’m not saying it’s not transparent or affordable now,” Auyang said. “We just want to keep it that way.”
@taveljimena
