ASSU voting begins today, ends Friday

Candidates for next year's Associated Students of Seattle University kicked off their spring election campaigns last Wednesday, but six of 11 positions are uncontested. Polls will be open to student voters April 28 to 30.

Voters will have two faces to choose from when selecting the positions of executive vice president, vice president of finance, senior, junior and transfer representatives.

The offices of ASSU president, sophomore representative, at-large representative, multicultural representative and vice president of university affairs each have one candidate running. This leaves students with the option to check either yes or none of the above.

There are two predominant reasons for the large number of un- contested positions during spring elections, according to Renata Opoczynski, ASSU faculty adviser.

The first reason is that students do not have a clear image of what it means to be an ASSU officer.

"A lot of what we do is completely behind the scenes," Opoczynski said. "Students see the benefit of our actions but don't normally tie it back to ASSU."

The function of a university organization such as SEAC is more easily identifiable by students, Opoczynski said.

According to her, ASSU's accomplishments are more discreet. For example, this year they landed student representative positions on Seattle U's Board of Trustees. Fr. Stephen Sundborg, S.J. reports to this board, a body which makes many steering decisions for the university.

"Having student representatives on this deciding board is a pretty big deal," Opoczynski said. "But it is difficult for students outside of the six who sit on the board to feel the impact of such a feat."

The second reason for the amount of uncontested positions deals with student initiative. Despite the number of students nominated and contacted by ASSU and other organizations, only so many decided to run for office. Election notices became public two weeks into spring quarter.

"We can only reach out so far," Opoczynski said. "Students have to meet us halfway."

Since a "None of the above" option is available to student voters, any candidates receiving less than 51 percent of the vote, including those running uncontested, will be ineligible for the position.

Unfilled positions will become part of the 2010 Fall Elections ballot, along with freshman, athletic, commuter, international and non-traditional representatives and the Residence Hall Association liaison.