Amplify Slate Members
President — Isaac Mitchell
Vice President — Matt Hinkleman
Secretary — Kyleigh Snavely
Treasurer — Jalen Jones
For the first time in eight years, only one slate was nominated for the Student Government elections.
Amplify, the nominated executive slate, will campaign for Ball State students' votes in the upcoming SGA election, but as it appears right now, they won’t have much competition.
“Only one slate was willing to take on leadership of the student governance system as executive members,” said SGA adviser Ro Anne Royer Engle. “It is disappointing that more students were not interested in executive board positions.”
In the past 30 years of Ball State student government, this has happened only three times. According to The Daily News archives, a slate ran unopposed in 1991 and 2010.
While there is only one slate running, students’ votes will still hold weight. Voters can either choose to vote for Amplify or cast a vote of no confidence, said elections board chair Abigail Gibbs. A vote of no confidence means the majority of voters do not support the policies a person or in this case, a slate, promotes while running for a legislative role.
“No confidence means they don’t believe in the one option that they have. If there is a vote of no confidence, then the whole process begins again,” Gibbs said. “Students should still vote because they need to inform themselves of this one slate and see if they are what they want to lead the student body. They still have a chance to make their voice heard.”
While there is currently one slate running, another slate can still be nominated by 5 p.m. Friday in order to run for student votes. To run, a slate must have 400 signatures on a petition form, a $200 bond and a completed elections packet.
However, without a competing slate, SGA elections board press secretary Josh Ratel-Khan said students will have to thoroughly examine Amplify’s platform points.
“When two slates run against each other, they check each other to make sure their policies and platform points are legitimate and can be executed. They are trying to poke holes in each others platforms,” Ratel-Khan said. “Now the student body can check the slate. Students have more of an opportunity to dive deeper into the slate and its platform points.”
Some students could even be critical of Amplify, said vice presidential candidate Matt Hinkleman.
“People will be hypercritical of us. They will say, ‘You’re the only slate running, no will check your platform points, you will just walk in the position,’” Hinkleman said. “But we’ve done our research on our points, we are confident in our platform and we plan on continuing to work and research what the students want.”
Because of this criticism, Amplify members plan to campaign just as hard, with or without another slate, to the student body said treasurer candidate Jalen Jones.
“We are going to campaign as hard as we can,” Jones said. “If another slate comes up, we are already 100 percent confident and 100 percent prepared.”
In order to keep giving students what they want, secretarial candidate Kyleigh Snavely said Amplify members will visit over 25 students organizations.
The slate will continue discussion on its platform points at the Presidential and Vice Presidential Debate 8 p.m. Thursday in the Art and Journalism building, room 175.
Because there will be no other competing slate, it will function more like a town hall discussion, said Ratel-Khan.
RELATED: SGA Election Calendar
Contact Liz Rieth with comments at ejrieth@bsu.edu or on Twitter at @liz_rieth.
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