6 declare candidacy for SBP

Six juniors declared their intent to run for student body president at the mandatory candidate meeting Tuesday night, kicking off the 2010 student government election race.

Board of Elections chairman Peter Gillooly reviewed election law with all candidates and announced new regulations, including the allowance of “dorm-storming,” or campaigning in residence halls, for student body president and Carolina Athletic Association president candidates.

Gillooly also announced that the University has identified large “A-frame” campaign signs as safety hazards. The Board of Elections will limit each candidate to two signs of a specified size.

The sign limit came as a surprise to some student body president candidates, many of whom had been planning their campaigns throughout the fall semester.

But Gillooly said he was only notified of the University’s decision within the last few days.

“They said it was a safety violation,” he said. “It came from them.”

The Board of Elections worked with the Office of Housing and Residential Education to craft the policy for campaigning in residence halls, which allows groups of fewer than 11 to enter a community to seek petition signatures between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday nights.

Candidates running for student body president and Carolina Athletic Association president have until 5 p.m. Tuesday to gather 1,000 unique signatures each to get on the ballot. In the 2009 runoff election, 9,513 students cast votes.

Current Student Body President Jasmin Jones told the candidates to prepare for a difficult race.

“Get your gloves on and your multivitamins out,” she said. “For real everyone, take your multivitamins. I’m serious.”



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.