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Elections for NMU’s student government, Associate Students of NMU (ASNMU) are swiftly approaching.

With the presidential debate being held at 6 p.m. in Jamrich 103 on Thursday, March 29 and elections the following week on April 3 and April 4, the board has been busy preparing.

Being a referendum year, there will be more than just names on the ballot. When the time comes for referendum, student organizations are allowed to make changes to their bylaws, constitutions and increase or decrease budgets from the Student Activity Fund.

Students will not just be voting on who is next to take office but also the changes to ASNMU’s constitution and increases to budgets for Radio X, ASNMU and The North Wind.

This year has brought a substantial number of candidates running for positions on the ASNMU board.

According to Drew Janego, current ASNMU vice president, the number has almost doubled since last year.

“I’m pretty happy with the turn out,” Janego said. “However, if we had the ideal number of candidates the ballot would have at least 24 people on it, but it’s a good start.”

This year there are two people running for president, senior furniture design major Adam Papin and Ben Stanley, who did not provide his student info.

“After having served on ASNMU as up-campus representative and student affairs chair for ASNMU, I understand firsthand the strengths and challenges of student government here at NMU,” Papin said. “I am excited at the potential opportunity to serve campus as ASNMU president.”

There are also two people running for vice president; Dani Thoune, a senior with a double major in special education and cognitive impairments and art education ceramics, and Kelsey Hayes, senior sports science major.

“I know what good can come from ASNMU,” Thoune said. “I have seen it with the Hobie administration my freshman year and with Jason my sophomore year. I know that students don’t have the best opinions about ASNMU and I want to make sure that ASNMU is on a positive note before I graduate.”

Hayes said she wants to get more involved for her last year at NMU.

Even with the increase in representatives running, there are still quite a few positions that will not be completely filled due to lack of candidates.

A full board consists of 24 members, half that represent the academic affairs and half that represent student affairs.

For those who do get elected, Justin Brugman, current ASNMU president, made sure there will be two weeks after the new members have been elected into office before they actually take over.

That way, according to Brugman, there is more time to shadow each position. It will also help make the transition process as painless as possible.

Brugman stated he will not be returning next year mainly because he is graduating at the end of the semester and also because he is the chairman of the elections committee.

Janego decided not to run because of his growing involvement in the College Democrats, as well as helping out with the Obama re-election campaign and applying for law school.

“I didn’t want to run and risk spreading myself too thin,” Janego said.