The Board of Elections and Membership chair reported to The Daily Orange that as of Monday only one candidate would be running for Student Association president. While the student has yet to announce their candidacy, they should run their campaign as if they did have an opponent. SA should also be sure to publicize this election to get voter turn out as high as possible.

The deadline to submit a petition to run for student body president and vice president passed on Friday. At that time, two students filed petitions for candidacy. Since then, one candidate withdrew from the running. This semester marks the first year elections will be held in the spring.

According to the SA Bylaws, “For a President or Comptroller election to be valid, a total of five [5] days shall be allotted for the election… If by the fourth [4th] day, one tenth [1/10] of the student body has not voted the polls shall remain open for a fifth [5th] and final day.” The last time an SA president ran unopposed was in the fall of 2010, when Neal Casey was elected president of the 55th session of the assembly after receiving votes from just more than 10 percent of the student body.

The student who does run unopposed should treat their campaign and platform with the same consideration they would if this election was contested. Campaigns are still important, because they create a sense of public accountability of what duties the student body expects the president to perform while in office. This shouldn’t be an excuse for the candidate to rest on their laurels and assume the office will be handed to them.

SA should also take this lack of interest in running for office as a sign that it needs to make the election widely publicized. When there were more candidates running for office in the past, it brought in higher voter turn out. In the last SA presidential election, in fall of 2013, there was a three-way race and a total of 4,411 students voted.

SA should strive for the same level of voter turn out to engage as many students in the process as possible. The presidential candidate should also treat this election with the same vigor they would have if it was contested.