During the Tuesday, March 18 ASNMU meeting, the board voted unanimously on the dates of the referendum election.

On Monday, April 7 ASNMU referendum elections will begin. The election ballots will run from noon Monday, April 7 to noon Wednesday, April 9. During this time students will have the opportunity to vote on the Student Discretionary Activity Fee.

ASNMU President Amber Lopota said the referendum committee has completed their meetings with all organizations in preparation for the election.

“The referendum committee has been meeting over the past two months to address the Direct Allocation groups, Radio X, North Wind, ASNMU and SFC, to review proposed changes in allocation and governing documents,” Lopota said. “Reviewing documents, soliciting changes as needed to clarify requests and their validation, as well as deliberating the benefits to the student body as a result of approving/denying the requests has been an ongoing effort.”

Students will also be voting for who will represent their student body on the ASNMU executive board for the following semester.

ASNMU down campus representative Spencer Deering said the voting process is simple for students.

“You can vote online,” Deering said. “It’s really simple. You just vote for all the people that are running as long as they don’t contradict with each other. There are going to be a few people that are running for slots where there are no competitors so thats something that is pretty simple. You choose who you vote for and hopefully you have a good informed decision.”

That’s really the ultimate goal.”

Students wishing to run as a candidate for the election would have to meet the application deadline by Sunday, March 27.

“The process would to be to go into the ASNMU office,” Deering said.  “We have a form for candidates to fill out and it includes all the rules and the jobs of any the positions that they wish apply for. There’s a couple of interest meetings that they will have to attend to see exactly what their requirements would be and they would run for campaign.

Deering also said that students are not restricted by year or major when being running for elections.

“Any student can apply as long as they are in good standing with the university and that is checked by the Dean of Students to see if they are eligible or not,” Deering said.

Debates happen Thursday April 4 open forum JXJ 104 at 6pm.

“It starts with the debates, I think thats the time when students can get a really good idea of who the representatives and who’s running for president and vice president and who they want to vote for and thats really the starting point of the voting process.

“I would like to say how important it is to vote and people to be aware because ASNMU does have a lot of power to help students with any problems that they have and so you want the right people in there doing the things you want done.”

“It is important for students to vote every time elections come around, as it is their opportunity to decide who they would like to hold accountable for the coming year’s advocacy through ASNMU,” Lopota said. “It is also a time they can make decisions about how they would like to fund their student groups, the North Wind and Radio X, through the proposed allocation changes that will incrementally come from an increase to the student activity fee.”

“I would like to simply request EVERY student take the time to vote in this election,” Lopota said. “The number of voters that turn out is recorded and directly affects the perception of how actively passionate the student body is about how their voice is heard. The higher the number of voters, the more obvious it becomes that students are paying attention and are interested in maintaining an active voice in the operations of their university.”