Today is the first day to vote in the Spring 2006 Campus Activities Board and Student Association executive elections.

The only contested race is between Aaron Funfsinn, a junior political science major, and Michael Johns, a senior sociology major, for SA vice president.

To vote, students must bring a valid NIU OneCard to the polls.

Polling stations are located in the Holmes Student Center, Founder’s Memorial Library and DuSable Hall and are open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday.

Latoya White, election commissioner and a corporate communication major, said the board of elections is in charge of administering the election. Board members are responsible for overseeing the polling stations and ensuring campaign rules are followed. They can also issue sanctions for any campaign violations and disqualify candidates.

The restrictions on campaigning are listed in the Student Association’s constitution and bylaws.

White said there are three important ways a candidate can be disqualified. If the candidate campaigns during a class or right in front of the polls, they can be disqualified.

“They can’t even whisper ‘Vote for me,’ if it’s right in front of the polls,” White said.

Candidates can also be disqualified for distributing handbills that were not approved by her.

She also said she would not relax the rules because of the lack of competition.

“Just because they don’t have anyone running against them, we still have to enforce the rules the same as always,” White said.

Election rejection

The Election will be invalid if:

The number of invalid ballots is greater than 5 percent of the total number of ballots cast.The difference between total number of votes for a candidate and the number of valid ID presentations is greater than 5 percent.An invalid election must be rerun as a special election within one week of invalidation.

Source: sa.niu.edu