Banners and buttons, bright colors and slogans, signs and push cards — these are signs it is election week on LSU’s campus.
Although the Student Government Election Code does not outline what constitutes a Student Government ticket, it is a common practice to bring a group of people together, and some say it is the only way to win an election.
Zack Howser, SG commissioner of elections, said the SG Constitution does not recognize tickets.
A ticket consists of people who agree with the main ideas of the presidential and vice presidential candidates running for office, Howser said.
The organized group pools its time and resources to help win the election, he said.
The group members help one another and while the actual president or vice president candidates may not reach every person on campus, the other people on their ticket will reach more people and give them a better chance of winning, he said.
Although there is no ticket policy, an expenditure policy exists for individuals and not the group, he said.
According to the current Election Code, the general election spending limit for presidential and vice presidential candidates is $1,000 each; candidates for an at-large position — someone not running in a college who everyone can vote on — is $500 each; candidates for any non-at-large position — those running in a college for whom only people in that college can vote — is $300 each.
Money is a big deal for the candidates because of the type of campaign they run, he said. They need money for banners, fliers, push cards, signs, buttons and other paraphernalia with their names and slogan on it.
“Because we restrict voting on certain types of candidates, what influences students is visual elements,” Howser said. “How you vote is what you see.”
He said it is hard to monitor the exact amount spent on a campaign without having any system or laws to control it.
As the code stands, candidates must list expenditures, but receipts are not required. Candidates do not have to sign a contract or agreement to ensure the amounts they are reporting are true, Howser said.
“We have to go with their word,” he said.
Some of the paraphernalia used by the candidates costs a lot of money, so people with less money have a harder time competing, Howser said.
Candidates who have been involved in SG and have a strong support system with more money are the type who win every year because of the nature of their campaign exposure, Howser said.
Darrell Broussard, current SG president, ran a low budget campaign and spent $3,300 total on the general election and $1,500 on the run-off, said Jay Buller, who dealt with expenditures for Broussard’s campaign.
Buller, SG presidential candidate, estimates he is spending a little more than Broussard.
So far, he has used 34,000 push cards, which is a few thousand more than LSU’s total population, but he said he still will not be able to reach every student.
Allen Richey, SG presidential candidate, said he has purchased 22,000 push cards and has spent $2,000 to $3,000 on campaign paraphernalia.
Kyle Wilkinson, SG presidential candidate, said he has spent several thousand dollars on his campaign; he does not know the exact amount yet. He purchased 20,000 push cards for his ticket.
Other campaign expenses include banners, which are $50 to $100 a piece; buttons, which are 89 cents a piece; stickers, pens, markers, copies and things like pizza for Election Day workers, Buller said.
Buller is an advocate of restructuring the Election Code to include tickets.
“The election code would need to be restructured from scratch around tickets,” Buller said.
Richey said he thinks tickets certainly put independents and smaller tickets at a disadvantage.
“Some people run an independent campaign and have good ideas but don’t get the word out,” Richey said.
Nevertheless, Richey said a unified group of people is good because if most of a ticket is elected to office, then they will work well together and get things done.
Wilkinson said he thinks tickets are a good thing for people running diverse campaigns.
“I think tickets are good because to really have a realistic chance to win, you need a ticket,” Wilkinson said.
Under the three tickets alone, 200 people filed to take part in the SG election, which is “an amazing thing,” Wilkinson said.
Travis LeBlanc, SG presidential candidate, is not running on a ticket. LeBlanc said he and his running mate are “just running as independents.”
Other organizations, like the Progressive Student Alliance that has been in existence since the fall of 2000, have a strong backing in SG elections.
Lee Abbott, who ran with a PSA ticket, said he thinks a ticket should be part of an organization so candidates would be subject to the rules under the organization’s constitution.
This way, tickets would become more issue-oriented and less personality-oriented, which would be more similar to national politics. He said this is frowned upon by current members of SG.
The paper trail left by candidates associated with an organization would allow students to track who they are voting for each year, Abbott said.
The good thing with PSA is people either say they agree or disagree with their issues, so the candidates are more accountable for what they do in office, he said.