The candidates running for Student Government elections began active campaigning Thursday.
The candidates for president and vice president respectively are Jay Ducote and Collin Ford, Brad Golson and Jenny Byrd, Maurice Gipson and Lori King, and Brandon Smith and Pete Schneider.
Amanda Callais, SG Commissioner of Elections, said active campaigning began Thursday at 4:30 p.m. with Friday beginning the first full day of campaigning.
According to the SG Election Code, active campaigning is the period of time where candidates can formally announce their candidacy, distribute campaign materials and solicit the vote of students.
Callais said she decided to move the election period about a week forward because the lay-out of the academic calendar would have placed general elections in the same week as Spring Break. Moving the filing period back would have pushed it into midterms.
She said the move has extended the “Active Campaigning” period.
Many of the qualified candidates for SG president and vice president already have begun vying for student votes.
Ducote and Ford said their No. 1 issue is increasing student presence at LSU athletic events at other schools.
This means better bus trips, away-game tailgating parties and support for football and other sports on the road, they said.
Ducote and Ford said they want to expand the annual SG bus trip and possibly add student bus trips to away-basketball games.
The top issue for Golson and Byrd, who head “The New Balance” ticket, is starting a student opinion roundtable, where students can voice their opinions.
Golson and Byrd said it is the responsibility of SG to serve as the voice of the students to administration and to offer student services and programs.
They said they hope to do both with a monthly roundtable discussion.
Gipson and King, who head the “Forever LSU” ticket, said they could not consider one of the issues on their push-card as being more important than the others. But, their main goal and motto is “putting the student back into Student Government.”
King said they want students to see them accomplishing goals and working for the students.
“We want to bring our office to the Quad, so when people walk through the Quad they see us working and doing stuff for them,” King said.
Unlike the other candidates, Smith and Schneider, who are a part of the “Change” ticket, said their No. 1 issue does not come from their push-card.
They said their top issue is to pull apathetic voters into the “decision-making process.”
Smith said they will have a additional campaign called “Apathetic before Change,” to get apathetic voters involved with the elections.
In addition to the candidates for the top two SG positions, many students also are running for seats on the Student Senate and positions on the college councils, the Union Governing Board, the University Court and the Athletic Council.
Absentee voting will be held Tuesday, March 16 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and the general election will be held Wednesday, March 24, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.