Spring semester means it’s time for students to elect a new student body president. The Election Rules Commission, which is charged with running the election, has high hopes for this year’s election.Supervisor of elections Andrew Kirkland said the ERC has been at work through the winter break.

“The Election Rules Commission has been through various trainings and meetings to ensure a smooth and fair election process,” Kirkland said.Associate Dean of Student Judicial Affairs Jason Spratt will be the ERC’s new adviser this semester. It is not uncommon for the Student Government supreme court to get involved in student body presidential elections.

Along with making sure the election runs smoothly and fairly, the ERC is in charge of getting the word out to students and ensuring high voter turnout.

“I hope at the end of the elections we would have reached our goal of 8,000 students voting,” Kirkland said.

Recent years have seen relatively high turnouts with last year’s election setting a new record at just under 5,000 votes.

No students have filed for candidacy as of yet, as they are not allowed to until Jan. 20. In order to file, potential candidates are also required to attend a mandatory meeting at 9:00 p.m. on Jan. 18 in Campus View East on the fourth floor of the Phyllis P. Marshall Center. The deadline for filing candidacy papers is 5 p.m. on Feb. 3.

Student body President Maxon Victor has declared that he has no intentions of running for re-election and that he will instead focus on helping the ERC run a fair campaign.

Victor was disqualified last spring by the ERC and then later reinstated in the race before ultimately beating then-student body Vice President Andrew Aubery in a runoff by a vote of 2,473 to 1,625.