Student Government Association is hosting interest meetings for students who hope to run for class offices and senate positions.
Each class has positions open for a president, vice president, multicultural representative and ten class senators.
However, due to the new guidelines set in place for COVID-19, students are being encouraged to campaign virtually through social media rather than go out and talk to students in person.
“COVID definitely affects how people are campaigning this year even for [Amy Brock] and I as we ran for president and vice president last year, it became a totally digital platform,” said Daniel Sherman, senior management major from Abilene and SGA president. “At least for these students, there’s a little more awareness now that we’re further into it… I really think people are using the internet and social media tools to leverage their way.”
One notable difference to this year’s election is the collection of signatures students must obtain in order to be eligible to run for office. Rather than gathering signatures on a printed paper and in person, students are encouraged to gather signatures online and submit them to the SGA election chair.
“One tangible way that campaigning is changing is that our signatures are being gathered entirely digitally,” Sherman said.
Virtual campaigning is challenging each student’s creativity while running for office. Many students are using platforms such as Instagram and Twitter to reach their classmates all across campus.
“I think campaigning virtually is very interesting because you can’t really interact with people like you can in person but it’s very simple with social media at our fingertips, because so many students already have multiple social media accounts,” said Lindsay Watson, sophomore communications disorders major from Pearland. “Personally, I am going to be doing most of my campaigning via Instagram, possibly making a poster type post letting people know who I am, what position I’m running for and when voting is taking place.”
Overall, SGA is taking precautions and following new guidelines while working towards officer elections this year.
“We as SGA are committed to public health, so we are going to use as many digital tools as we possibly can to mitigate risks,” Sherman said.
