Elections are being held today and tomorrow to fill seats on the Student Association Senate, but out of all the candidates who submitted petitions to run for off-campus seats, only one will not be elected.

In addition to the 33 students running for off-campus seats, there are 15 students who submitted petitions to run for 16 on-campus senate seats, leaving one chair open to a winning write-in candidate.

Students can submit their votes from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and tomorrow at DuSable Hall, Founders Memorial Library and the Pow Wow Room if they show NIU student identification.

All but four of the candidates running for the 32 off-campus seats are members of a group advertised as the “Coalition of Students for All Students.” Coaltion co-founder Jim Valentine said the group was formed to “try to get students in various organizations involved in the SA.”

One coalition member said all but one of the group are members of the greek community. Co-founder Joe Annunzio said not every senate candidate knew about the coalition.

None of the four non-coalition candidates could be contacted Monday.

Will such a small number of candidates hurt the senate’s effectiveness in representing NIU students?

SA Vice-President Greg Bliss said if an elected senator proves ineffective in fulfilling his or her responsibilities after the election, SA bylaws do permit removal of that senator. But he added removal would be “difficult,” and he did not “see the situation going that far.

“Unfortunately, not enough people showed the willingness to run (for senate election), but there are at least eight write-in campaigns in effect,” he said.

Jon Dalton, NIU vice president for student affairs, said he “would like to see more participation” in SA elections. He added it would be improper to conclude that the small number of candidates running means students “don’t care” about student government.

“It may be students just aren’t aware of the opportunity to run,” Dalton said. “It could also be that students under pressure to compete and study are guarded about doing things that will take up too much time.”

The SA did not send a list of candidates to any NIU or DeKalb media, Bliss said, but lists were available at the office.

A new SA requirement of 200 petitions to become a candidate for the senate this year doubles the 100 petition amount the SA required in 1987, Bliss said.

“If a candidate can’t get 200 signatures, they’re not trying hard enough,” Bliss said.