Four Tickets File To Enter UC Race

Four tickets filed for candidacy in the upcoming Undergraduate Council presidential elections by yesterday's 11:59 p.m. deadline, according to Election Commission Chair Michael L. Taylor '08.

Presidential candidate Matthew L. Sundquist '09, who currently serves as the UC's vice president, and running mate Randall S. Sarafa '09, who is the chair of the Council's Finance Committee, represent the only ticket from within the UC.

The other three tickets include the presidential-vice presidential pairings of Roy T. Willey IV '09 and Nicholas B. Snow '09; Frances I. Martel '09 and Leo P. Zimmermann '09; and Michael J. Laures '09 and Andrew P. Oakland '09.

All candidates were required to submit 150 student signatures in support of their bid to the Election Commission by 11:59 yesterday. Taylor noted in an e-mail on Tuesday that he would reserve the right to disqualify candidates pending verification of the signatures' validity. Campaigning is set to begin on Nov. 28, with voting running from Dec. 3 to Dec 7.

Willey, who announced his candidacy last week and is a member of Harvard's polo team along with his running mate, Snow, said that the two had made use of ten to fifteen supporters to help collect the signatures, which ended up totaling almost three times the necessary amount.

"We are just trying to get our names and our message out there, and in as many places as possible," he said. "We've been talking to a lot of people...it's about spreading the message because everybody knows who Sundquist is and not everyone knows who we are."

Martel is listed as Forum Editor on the masthead of The Harvard Independent, and Zimmerman is a member of the Harvard debate team. The Crimson was notified of the candidacy of their ticket—and that of Laures-Oakland—too late last night to contact either for comment.

In an e-mail to candidates confirming their filing, Taylor noted some key changes to this year's campaign regulations, which include stricter registration procedures for campaign staffers, a new system of assessing campaign violations, and the lifting of a one-year embargo on e-mail campaigning.

Sarafa said yesterday that with the filing done, the week leading up to campaigning will be filled with planning.

"The upcoming week is going to be busy," he said. "We have some organizing to do, but we've been thinking about it, we've been planning."

--Staff writer Christian B. Flow can be reached at cflow@fas.harvard.edu.