For the first time in UB Undergraduate Student Association history, an entire slate of executive board members will serve second terms after running unopposed in the upcoming General Election.
The deadline for handing in petitions to enter the race was Wednesday at 4 p.m., and none were received.
Elections will still be held and endorsements will continue as usual, said SA Treasurer John Martin. One thing that will change is the amount of time the polls will be open. Rather than the usual three-day election, this year's will take place over two days (March 25 and 26) for reduced three-hour time periods, according to SA President Peter Grollitsch.
"There's nothing really in the Constitution about what happens when something like this happens, so we're still opening the polls," Martin said. "We will be putting out a whole new platform."
For the current Progress party, this technically isn't the first time they have run unopposed. During last year's election, they were the only functioning party on the ticket for the first few hours of voting after the Greater Tomorrow party's Presidential candidate, Robert Mercurio, dropped out of the race, and UB Redefine candidate for president, Christopher Mendoza, was temporarily suspended from campus and the polls, according to a previous article in The Spectrum.
Martin and Grollitsch expect the voter turnout to be lower than it has been in past years, backtracking on last year's two percent increase in voters.
"Last year was probably one of the most closely contested elections and we only got about 2,000 people to show up," said Martin, who won the position of treasurer by a margin of only 64 votes. "I hope the problem with student apathy isn't as big as it's appearing."
Vice President Ashish Abraham has resolved to recruit as many voters as possible on election days, when all three incumbents will be in the Student Union encouraging students to vote as they would if there was an opposing party on the ticket.
"I'm going to get as many people walking through to support the democratic process," Abraham said.
This year, Martin will see any votes cast as a sign that SA government is still something students care about and see as an important part of attending a university, he said.
Grollitsch, Abraham and Martin all have mixed feelings about running unopposed.
"There are two points of view. Hopefully, the cause behind it is people think we've done a good job this year so there isn't an uprising to take us out of office. The other view is apathy. The truth behind it is probably somewhere in the middle," Martin said.
Abraham is glad that he doesn't have to go through the election process again, but is disappointed that the democratic process will not be fulfilled.
"It's a precedent that hopefully doesn't happen again," he said. "I'm kind of happy because last year was a very intense campaign - it was very stressful...at the same time, you want to feel like you really earned it."
However, the incumbents also see many positive aspects to this outcome.
"It gives us time to focus on doing more work, not the election," Grollitsch said. "There are a lot of projects we're working on but couldn't get the go-ahead because of the elections. We can almost start working on Fall Fest."
Martin also sees the extra time as a benefit.
"This definitely affords us more time to think more about decisions as far as staffing, and for me, budgeting," Martin said. "It's a luxury we're not going to waste."
All three candidates think the experience and continuity of the party will allow them to "move forward at a higher level," Abraham said.
"We already know the ropes, so we can hit the ground running next year," Martin said.
One focus of the Progress party's platform will be lowering textbook prices. Grollitsch plans on talking to deans from all schools of study to encourage them to make sure their faculty submits their textbook requirements early to make the buyback process better for students.
"If people didn't think we were doing a good job, I think three or four parties would be running against us."
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
