The runoff elections for president and vice president for finance of the Binghamton University Student Association will be held again tomorrow, April 22, four weeks after the original runoff date.
None of the candidates for the positions received the 40 percent of the vote necessary to win during the March 18 and 19 elections. As a result, Student Association presidential candidates Adam Amit and Jonathan LaSala and vice president for finance hopefuls Matthew Allwood and Abid Hossain will go head-to-head to win their respective positions.
A common concern among the four remaining candidates is whether the week-long spring break will affect students’ desire to vote, and thus voter turnout.
“I think that voter turnout will be affected by the break,” Amit, a junior philosophy, politics and law and economics major, said. “But with the right strategy and campaigning, I can avoid any detrimental effects.”
The same rings true with LaSala.
“But that’s our job as candidates,” LaSala, a junior political science major, said. “To encourage people to come out one more time.”
The two candidates received 31 and 29 percent of the votes, respectively, in the first election. Both anticipate the runoff will be close.
“Whoever wins,” LaSala said, “it will be by a small margin.”
Allwood and Hossain both said they were also concerned about this week’s race.
“What will affect voter turnout is that now, the elections are being held at the same time as group and community elections,” Allwood, a junior accounting major, said. “People are less likely to vote 10 times in a week, and so I think that will affect voter turnout more than the break.”
As such, publicity is key for all of the candidates in the upcoming runoffs. All four said they plan to put themselves amid the students at Binghamton University in the days before and the day of the runoff in order to gain recognition and potential votes.
“I’m going to be making sure that I make my rounds all the way through the communities and various multicultural groups,” LaSala said. “And tell everyone not just to vote for myself, but to vote and let their voices be heard. April 22 is the last time they can come out and vote.”
Hossain said that, before the Dickinson Community re-vote, he had been planning to try and gain attention from voters in an unconventional way by break dancing in front of the New University Union.
“I was going to put on a show in front of the New Union to draw people in and hand out my quarter sheets,” Hossain said.
However, Hossain said he didn’t think he would be able to do it for tomorrow’s election because of the expected bad weather.
As with the previous election and runoff, students living on campus can vote in their respective communities. Those living in Hillside and Susquehanna Communities or off campus can vote in the New University Union. Elections will be held from 1:30 to 7:30 p.m.