At least 8 may run for SBP

February's elections season could see at least eight students vying to be student body president.

Juniors Ron Bilbao Thomas Edwards Jasmin Jones Ashley Klein Julia La Roche and Matt Wohlford and sophomores Michael Betts and Andrew Ashley expressed interest in running for the position at an optional candidates meeting held Tuesday by the Board of Elections.

Board of Elections Vice Chairman Val Tenyotkin said he has heard of at least two more students who are interested in running for the office and said others could pop up between now and official campaign season.

Last year only three students ran for the office.

A total of 18 students attended the optional meeting which was open to potential candidates for all elected offices.

Juniors Darius Barrow Courtney Brown and John Russell and sophomore Nicholas Varunok expressed interest in running for Carolina Athletic Association president which was uncontested last year.

At the meeting Tenyotkin discussed common violations of election rules" such as publicly campaigning before the rules allow.

He said people have often tried to stretch the rules in past elections and have gotten in trouble for it.

""Creativity is what will get you in trouble"" he said.

The elections board already has fined Wohlford and Klein for holding illegally public meetings and speaking with The Daily Tar Heel. They have appealed that decision to the Student Supreme Court.

A mandatory campaign meeting will be held Jan. 13, where candidates will officially declare their candidacy and the elections board will make a formal presentation about the rules.

After that meeting, candidates have one week to gather a specific number of signatures required for their office.

A couple of people will be weeded out by the process of gathering signatures"" Tenyotkin said.

To run for student body president, students must gather at least 800 signatures, which cannot be duplicated on other petitions for the same office. If 10 run, the 8,000 combined required signatures is more than the 6,625 students who voted last year.

The last year to have so many candidates was 2004, when 10 declared candidacy at the January meeting. Eight passed the signature threshold.

If students pass that requirement, they can openly speak about their campaigns starting Jan. 21. Election Day is Feb. 10.

You win if you have a good message and it reaches enough people" Tenyotkin said. Do that and get the right groups to endorse you" and you'll win.""



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.