Ramblings on Election Rules

So here we are, one week away from "official" campaign season, when candidates can announce what they intend to run for. The election rules are written so that election season has a definite beginning and end, and there are serious penalties for campaigning early. These rules were initially designed to help candidates not overwork themselves during campaign season. The current form of the election rules were written after a controversial election in 2009.

At the time, there were little in the way of limits on the money that students could spend on their campaign. That year, two presidential tickets went all out, buying full-page ads in the Northern Iowan, paying for billboards on University Ave. and TV commercials. The spending by students amounted into the thousands, and that was a great concern considering that students of well-means would have a considerable advantage in running campaigns. In addition, at that time campaign season lasted for three weeks, and by the end of it many students and candidates were exhausted by the process.

This led to the reformation of the current rules, which you can find here , and download a copy yourself at the bottom of the page. As of now, election season only lasts two weeks, and campaigns have to report what they spend. When I was running, we had to submit weekly spending reports; spending money on buttons, fliers, pizza for your campaign team, buying ads on Facebook, etc. This stuff adds up, and Presidential campaigns cannot spend more than $1000 total.

However, there are several things that Presidential tickets are either doing or have been doing for a couple weeks now. First, they are building their campaign team - a core team that works with the ticket to shape the message and tone of why they deserve your vote. Typically this is at least a campaign manager, graphic designer, web designer and others. Campaigns need to have good looking logos, a website that presents themselves professionally and a manager to shape the message and keep everyone on the same page. When I was running, I realized very quickly that there are a very small number of students on campus who can build a website from the ground up. These people become more valuable than diamonds once election season rolls around. Smart campaigns know this, and I've heard of candidates putting teams together as early as October for an election in February.

Between putting together their teams and writing their platforms, there is actually quite a bit of work that goes into campaigns before they even begin. Typically, the last thing these tickets do before the season starts is get an NISG-recognized org in place. They need to do this to reserve rooms around campus, stake time for tabling in the Union, etc. But most importantly, it is an informal way of publicly throwing your hat into the running. To get recognized, the NISG Senate has to vote to approve your organization. They meet on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. in the University Room of the Union, and they're always open to the public.

So far this semester, I've been in contact with the NISG Speaker, Eric Boisen, watching out for tickets to get their org registered. It's usually pretty obvious, the org for the Walrath-Goldsmith campaign was something like, "Students for Spencer and Ian." What has been interesting is that despite elections beginning next week, nobody has registered an org yet. The last time to do this would be next Wednesday night's Senate meeting, so stay tuned. So far I've only heard rumors about campaigns, and the rumors are flying! So stay tuned, subscribe for email updates, and "Like" the Northern Iowan's Facebook page to keep updated in all things NISG.