Daum Picks Date For Special Election

The special election will be held from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. Sept. 24. Students can vote in the special election using the online voting system accessed through Student Central.

Speaker of Congress Tony Larson said all three seats are in graduate student districts.

Larson said two vacancies are in District 5, which is composed of the graduate programs for the School of Information and Library Science and the College of Arts and Sciences.

The other empty seat is located in District 2, which includes the graduate programs for the schools of Education, Social Work and Journalism and Mass Communication.

Board of Elections Chairman Brian Fauver said an interest meeting for prospective candidates will be held at 7 p.m. Sept. 10 in the student government offices of the new Student Union.

Fauver said the interest meeting will help introduce potential candidates to the world of Student Congress.

"The interest meeting will help me get to know who's running and help make sure that each candidate has a clear understanding of the student government general election laws," he said.

To get their names on the ballot, prospective candidates must attend the interest meeting and gather 10 signatures from their constituents to be turned in by Sept. 17 to the elections board.

Daum said the special election is essential to Student Congress, and she stressed the importance of filling the remaining seats.

"Getting the graduate student seats filled is extremely important so that the Student Congress genuinely represents the makeup and interests of the student body," she said.

Student Code guidelines require that the student body president call a special election in order to address the vacant positions in Congress.

A special election held April 23 failed to fill all of the empty congressional seats. That special election also drew attention because of a failed referendum that proposed increasing undergraduate and graduate student activity fees to $16.50 a semester.

Despite a majority "yes" vote, the referendum failed because of low voter turnout for the special election. The Student Code mandates that a minimum of 10 percent of the student body participate in an election if student fees are to be raised. Only 417 students voted in the April special election.

Despite this low turnout, Daum said she is optimistic that the upcoming special election will fill the remaining seats.

"I'm confident that this election will provide us with a full Student Congress," Daum said. "I'm very excited to work with a full Congress in the upcoming year."

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