Contenders Submit Elections Petitions

The petitions for anyone wanting inclusion on the Feb. 13 ballot were due at 5 p.m. Tuesday to the Board of Elections.

According to preliminary, unofficial tallies from the Board of Elections, the current candidates for student body president are Dustyn Baker, Correy Campbell, Eric Johnson, Annie Peirce, Caleb Ritter, Warren Watts and Justin Young.

David Cooper, the sole candidate for Resident Hall Association president, also submitted his petition.

Those students who are still in the running for the post of Carolina Athletic Association president are Reid Chaney and Michael Songer. Stanley Olshefski announced his withdrawal from the race Monday.

The senior class president and vice president candidates who turned in their petitions and are eligable to run are Joshua Baylin and Eugene Kim, Ursula Dimmling and Ben Singer and Neera Makwana and Shawn Brooks.

Fred Hill, vice chairman of the Board of Elections, said official candidate lists will be compiled by the end of the week.

Each candidate for student body president and CAA president had to submit at least 500 signatures, while those seeking the offices of RHA president and senior class president and vice president had to render 150 signatures.

Several candidates did not turn in the required signatures, thus ending their official bids for office. Larry Harper Jr., Charlie Trakas and Matthew Wilhite will not have their names appear on the ballot.

"This is one of the hardest decisions that I have ever made but is one that I think I made on some level a long time ago," Harper wrote in an e-mail Monday night.

"I would like to show my endorsement of Warren Watts and Eric Johnson."

Trakas and Wilhite said that even though they did not submit their petitions, they still plan on continuing their campaigns. "I'm a write-in candidate, and I'm still going to win," Trakas said.

Although candidates turned in the required signatures, it does not necessarily mean they will appear on the ballot. Board of Elections members said they will be going through the stacks of signatures during the next few days to ensure that all petitions are valid.

"What complicates things is that a student can only sign one petition for any one office," Tuchmayer said.

"That means that a student can only sign one petition for student body president, but they can sign other petitions for CAA president or senior class president."

And Hill said the candidates' petitions should be verified within a couple of days. "We should have it finalized by Thursday night or Friday morning."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.