By Anne Baker

As the Student Government Association (SGA) prepares to begin its second direct presidential elections tomorrow, some students remain in the dark about the election and its candidates.

“I don’t really think students see the benefit of it and how it impacts them directly,” said junior human resources major Kate Janisch. She added that she had not followed the elections very closely.

This year’s elections have proved hard to promote, current SGA president Joey Fiore said, largely because of the “rapid change in options students have.”

“There’s only so much SGA can promote when we’re not sure who’s running,” he said.

SGA vice president for student affairs Marines Piney dropped out of the race last Monday at the second presidential debate, and there is a chance that a new candidate, Dan Kamyck, might not be allowed to run after a block was put on his nomination. SGA Joint Senate will decide whether Kamyck will be allowed to pursue the presidency after a debate tonight against running-mate vice president for financial affairs Rob Ranley.

Fiore said SGA had fulfilled its responsibility to promote the elections, and that the majority of that responsibility falls on the shoulders of the candidates.

“I think SGA as an organization has done as effective a job as the organization can hope. I think it’s really the responsibility of the candidates to promote the elections,” he said.

However, some students are still unaware of the elections.

“I had no idea elections were going on right now,” said Olivia Chirsky, a freshman pharmacy major.

And while members of SGA have openly discussed a lack of awareness among students, the organization could face setbacks in the election process if not enough students vote. SGA needs at least 20 percent of the undergraduate student body to vote in order for the election results to stand. If that quota is not met, SGA can have two one-week extension periods before the election goes back to the Senate.

The percentage of votes needed is higher this year, Fiore said, up from last year’s 15 percent.

“Maybe we see that 20 percent is too much this year and they have to drop it back down to 15 percent next year,” he said. “It’s a constant experiment.”

Twenty-seven percent of the student body voted in last year’s elections.

However, some members of SGA feel the organization has not done enough to promote the elections.

“I am a little bit worried, because we did increase the amount [of votes] needed,” said Matthew Soleyn, a middler marketing and information sciences major and a special interest senator for SGA. “I don’t think SGA as an organization has done enough to let the student body know voting begins on [Tuesday].”

Complicating the issue, Fiore said, is that Kamyck’s candidacy is still up in the air since Piney dropped out of the race. Therefore, Ranley is the only candidate to have consistently campaigned since he was nominated in mid-March.

Adriana Campos, Northeastern graduate and former SGA executive vice president who was heavily involved in creating direct elections last year, said SGA’s legitimacy as an advocate for the students would be hurt if Kamyck was not allowed to run.

“I think it would rip SGA’s credibility to shreds,” she said. “The whole reason we have direct elections is to allow the students to choose.”

Campos said Kamyck is a legitimate candidate and should be allowed to run.

Soleyn said he thought students could be discouraged if Kamyck was disqualified and it could hurt voter turnout.

“People could see the election as not mattering since there’s only one people on the ballot, and they won’t vote because they don’t think it will matter,” he said.

Fiore said he has confidence the vote will go as planned.

“I don’t doubt that the people involved will do what they have to do to get that number [of votes],” he said.