The Elections are Over and the Results are in!

Phew! Talk about a busy two weeks!! The UPUA elections are finally over and I am extraordinarily grateful for their success and my new position as UPUA On-Campus Representative!!  Thank you to everyone who voted for me in this class!! And I'm sorry about spamming your inboxes with my Angel plea. haha.

Campaigning at a large-scale university was a great experience, and it was like nothing I have ever done before. It was also a very time consuming experience and I am looking forward to having a little more free time over the next few weeks, or at least some more time to study as we approach finals!  Even though I spent many days in the last two weeks on little sleep, I loved campaigning because government and political action is something I am interested on all levels. However, it is not something that everyone is interested in, and I will do my best explaining my campaigning experience in a way that will interest people who have little interest in government.

The campaigning period lasted for two weeks. It started on the first Monday back from spring break until election day last Wednesday.  The first week was very chill and my campaigning involved nothing more than a facebook group and constant work on revising my platform.  However, being a freshman, I had no idea what lay in store for me in the upcoming weeks because the elections were more competitive this year than they have ever been.

I talked with alot of my friends who are upperclassmen and know how the UPUA elections are run.  With their help, I made my first batch of fliers and then became subject to a slew of formalities and technicalities from the UPUA Elections Commission. The Election's Commission exists to prevent cheating, but mostly they just serve as an added pain to the candidates. I was expected to attend stamping sessions and stamp each of my hundreds of flies with an official UPUA elections stamp. Then I had to fill out endorement forms for anyone I wanted to support, and weekly financial statements for any money I spent.  This aspect of my campaign was a time-gobbling chore.

However, I loved interacting with the other candidates, students, and student-leaders on campus during my campaign.  I broadened my network looking for support from many groups across campus such as the music majors and business majors in North Halls, traveling from my home in Pollock up to the rest of the freshman in East, the Panhellenic and IFC coucils, and support from many of the current members of UPUA.

The day of elections became colder and colder as the day went on, but my friends would stop by to help pass out flyers, and keep my attention off of the winter-like conditions.  Finally, after a day of campaigning, I decided that I was finished and I went to the Lil Wayne Concert.  The election results were announced at the HUB so I had no idea I had won until one of my friends in UPUA texted me and told me that I had gotten the spot as 1-of-7 On-Campus Reps, and that I had received the most votes in my category!!  I was shocked to hear that I won and that my campaigning style of "figure it out as you go" had got me 1,473 votes!!

That number is small compared to all the students that attend U-Park, but most students do not care to vote in the elections.  UPUA is going to work to increase voter participation each year, but every vote really did count on this small scale, and again thank you for anyone who voted for me and your support! It meant alot and I am excited to serve you as On-Campus Rep next semester!! Thanks!!:)