Party politics

Palms are beginning to sweat and platforms are being aired as the time draws near for students to decide who will lead the Student Association next year.

Three parties of candidates - Progress, Greater Tomorrow and UB Redefined - have all geared up for the election; Redefined and Progress each with a full ticket, Greater Tomorrow with candidates only for SA's top three jobs.

Peter Grollitsch, this year's treasurer, is running for president with Progress. International Clubs Coordinator Ashish Abraham is the party's VP candidate and assistant bookkeeper John Martin is on their ticket vying for Grollitsch's current position.

"We have experience. I have worked up here for a year - I have seen what has worked and what hasn't," Grollitsch said. "The party that I assembled is the most qualified. We count on qualifications, not popularity."

Some of the party's goals are to increase club sizes as well as to renew the Sub Board I Programming Grant and to keep a close eye on UB 2020.

Greater Tomorrow has Rob Mercurio at the helm with Scott Swamback for vice president and Zach Lauria for treasurer at his side. Mercurio says that he aims for honesty and openness.

"One of the biggest things our party represents is good communication through the offices, honesty and just being straightforward with what's going on," Mercurio said.

The third party in the race is UB Redefined. Current SUNY delegate Christopher Mendoza has the party's top billing with Shuja Hussain and Andrew DeShong running for VP and treasurer, respectively.

Mendoza said that he wants to use new experience to bring SA down from the third floor and into the hands of students.

"We are going to redefine what SA means," Mendoza said. "We want to redefine what it means to be a club member, what SA means and what it means to be a regular student. We want to send out a strong message."

UB Redefined's platform includes revisions to clubs and events such as the Anti-Rape Task Force, South Campus libraries and Fall Fest, which they would like to see run as a festival rather than just one concert.

"SA is not the big bad guy. As a matter of fact, we work for the students," Mendoza said.

In SA elections, presidents and vice presidents are elected as a team and treasurers are elected independently.

SUNY delegates are also elected individually, although most this year are running on party lines. Elias Farah, Jack Niejadik, Rohan D'sousa and Latrece Seneca are all Progress candidates; Eliot Sherman, Jovan Ramirez, Mollie McCabe and Melody Mercedes are Redefined candidates - Sherman and Mercedes are seeking their seats for a second term.

One candidate, Stephanie Kulesa, is on the ballot independently.

Potential presidents and cabinets are currently fighting through club endorsement elections. In order to get an endorsement for their party, candidates have to present themselves to each of the six club councils, who later vote on which party to endorse.

Endorsements are only votes of confidence and don't necessarily equate to higher standings at the polls; Hussain says he believes they don't influence the elections at all.

"The counsel endorsement doesn't matter," Hussain said. "I sweated last year - I won every single one of the endorsements, and then at the elections it came down to ten votes."

All of the parties expressed their excitement for the elections.

"It's going to be fun. It's going to be close - we can't wait," Grollitsch said.

"We want to lead by example. We feel pretty good about this." Lauria said.

"It's going to be tough, but I am definitely ready. It's going to be close," Mendoza said.