Candidates for the Student Association’s top spots raced to plaster posters featuring their faces and campaign slogans across campus Monday morning.
The annual 8 a.m. dash for the best postering spots usually kicks off the campaigning period for SA candidates leading up to elections, which are set for later this month. But this year’s postering day was postponed from Friday amid concerns over dangerously high winds.
Even with the delay, candidates were allowed to begin all other campaign activities Friday.
“We want to make sure that all the posters have a chance to remain up without being blown away by the wind,” Bob Wu, the chairman of the Joint Elections Commission, the body that oversees SA elections, said.
Three of the four candidates for the SA’s top two spots showed up to the event, but only a handful of senate candidates came stocked with papers to put up.
Here’s a recap of the morning’s events:
7:50 a.m.
Candidates began to congregate in Kogan Plaza on a chilly, roughly 30-degree morning.
SA Vice President for Public Affairs Ashley Le, who is running for SA president, was one of the first candidates to arrive along with her 10-person team, the largest group of supporters for any candidate.
“I got my team out here really early because I was encouraged by the JEC Chair, Bob Wu, to be in Kogan really early. I didn’t know that nobody was going to be here,” she said. “I want to be able to make sure that my team knows about it, that we won’t violate, just so that we have a good, clean and drama-free election.”
Before postering started, Wu laid down the ground rules for the morning. Candidates could tack their posters onto the exterior of Phillips, Rome and Smith Halls, the H Street side of the Marvin Center and University Yard, and one location on the the Mount Vernon Campus, he said.
Rebecca Durango, a senior supporting Sen. Imani Ross, U-at-Large, for SA president, said she lined up for the event as a member of Ross’ team to ensure her candidate would be visible around campus.
“We just want to get her name and face out there so that voters know exactly who she is when they vote for her on March 27,” Durango said.
8:00 a.m.
Candidates took off with their teams to the H Street entrance of Marvin Center – a coveted location.
Ross and her team ran to the student hub while her contender, Le, walked to the same spot with her campaign team.
“I love it,” Le said, laughing, as she walked behind the rush.
Le said she split her team up to go to the different locations but chose to go to the Marvin Center because of its importance to student life on campus. Le was communicating by cell phone with the rest of her time throughout the process.
George Glass, who is running unopposed for an undergraduate-at-large senate seat, said he used the event to meet people who he may be working with next year. Glass, who was putting up his own posters, chatted with presidential candidates throughout the morning and helped other candidates put up their posters.
Sen. Brady Forrest, G-at-Large and an executive vice presidential candidate, did not attend the event. Brady said he would tape up posters later in the campaign season to ensure his flyers stayed up as long as possible. Candidates are allowed to continue postering in the weeks leading up to the election on March 27.
[gwh_image id=”1050998″ credit=”Keegan Mullen | Staff Photographer” align=”none” size=”embedded-img”]Sen. Ojani Walthrust, ESIA-U, tapes posters advertising his campaign for executive vice president to a brick wall in front of the Marvin Center.[/gwh_image]
8:30 a.m.
The rush came to a close about a half hour after it began. Posters now cover the brick entrances of buildings like Bell and Lisner Hall.
Sen. Ojani Walthrust, ESIA-U, who is running for executive vice president, said he and his team dispersed around campus for the dash – a strategy he said ensured his team had first dibs on the best spots to tape up posters.
“We didn’t really interact, we just see each other and smile at each other because we all want to get the nicest places to put the posters,” he said.
Ross wrapped up her postering in front of Bell Hall with two members of her campaign team. She said on a large city campus, the posters improve her recognition on campus along with online campaigning.
“It’s just to have my name out there in a more physical space,” she said “You never know who’s going to stop you on the street and ask about your platform or ask about the issues you care about.”
