The Final Push

This is it. Zero hour is almost upon us. Tomorrow, beginning at 8 a.m., voting in MyUNIverse will open up and students will have until 5 p.m. on Wednesday to cast their vote in the presidential, vice presidential and senatorial elections. Two weeks of campaigning, meeting with student organizations, putting up flyers around campus, handing out buttons and t-shirts and it all comes down to this.

With less than 24 hours before voting begins, let's take a final look at the candidates!

Tom Madsen and Blake Findley
Website: http://www.tomandblake.com/
Platform Analysis: Click here
Facebook: Tom and Blake for UNI Students (226 Likes)
The Ticket: Experience, but with some new ideas for improvements. Tom and Blake both boast quite a bit of experience with NISG and they're both involved in a number of different student organizations and activities on campus. Their platform has a lot of new ideas on how to make NISG more visible and accessible to students, increase recycling initiatives across campus to make UNI more green and work to ensure that UNI and NISG are both welcoming and inclusive communities. Tom and Blake acknowledge that there is some work to be done in terms of improving NISG and, with their experience, they believe they know how to get it done. But are their ideas the best ideas? What, in terms of their experience, sets them apart?

David Pope and Katie Grassi
Website: http://davidandkatiearedifferent.com
Platform Analysis: Click here
Facebook: David + Katie (400 Likes)
The Ticket: NISG is broken, and they're here to fix it. David and Katie have been the candidates most critical of NISG and view the current student government as a more of a megaphone for the administration than a voice for students. David and Katie would like to see that change and want to be a voice for the students who have been marginalized by student government in the past. They're different, in more ways than one, and they're not afraid to stand up and be at the forefront of a protest when it comes to advocating for students, especially in situations where programs are being cut without student input. But how do they expect to focus on the minorities without neglecting the majority? Are their platform ideas too limited in scope?

KaLeigh White and Alicia Jessip
Website: http://kaleighandalicia.com
Platform Analysis: Click here
Facebook: KaLeigh and Alicia for UNI Students (315 Likes)
The Ticket: You've seen what Jordan and KaLeigh have done in one year. Now find out what KaLeigh and Alicia can do with a second. They're as close to an incumbent as we're going to get, with KaLeigh currently serving as student body vice president and Alicia holding the executive position of Director of Diversity and Student Life. Their campaign is centered about the idea of continuity, since KaLeigh has a year under her belt as vice president and has already-established connections and relationships that would allow her and Alicia to hit the ground running next year. Their platform is full of continuations of the feasible and achievable goals that Jordan and KaLeigh have been working towards over the past year. But are you satisfied with the current NISG administration? Are KaLeigh and Alicia playing it safe with a platform short on new ideas?

It's been a fun and interesting past couple weeks, and now the choice is yours to make. I'll be posting tomorrow with more specifics on where and how to vote, but until then I urge you to check out the candidates' website and read through the blog posts. Just be sure that, when you cast your vote tomorrow, you're making an informed decision.

Keep checkin' back! I will keep you updated as we inch closer and closer to electing next year's student body president and vice president.