The Government of the Student Body presidential candidates will gather together to give their final speeches until election day.

The 2014 GSB presidential debate will be at 6 p.m. tonight in the Cardinal Room of the Memorial Union.

Spencer Hughes, GSB president, said the debate process has been updated from previous years.

“In the past, two executive debates were held where the presidential and vice presidential candidates would all gather together to discuss the issues,” Hughes said.

Hughes said that, for the first time, they have instead held one vice presidential debate and one presidential debate for the candidates of those respective offices.

“This allows each candidate to stand on their own and discuss their merits for each respective office individually,” Hughes said. “I believe this is a significant improvement.”

Hughes said Thursday’s debate is the only presidential debate for the 2014 campaign.

“The debate is an opportunity for them to express their own vision for Iowa State and question the other candidates as their opposing views,” Hughes said.

This will be the last major opportunity for students to hear from both presidential candidates before voting begins.

“Candidates should be focusing on how they will make our campus a better place, how they will support student organizations and how they will serve students, not themselves, in office,” Hughes said.

Hughes said he doesn’t think regular students could care any less about the petty internal gossip that has been a focus for some throughout this campaign.

“It has only served as a distraction to the real work that is ongoing for us as we continue to improve the student experience,” Hughes said.

Hughes said he has the expectation that all candidates will behave in an appropriate manner and will discuss the issues important to Iowa State students.

The moderator of the presidential debate will be Jake Swanson, a member of the election commission.

“Jake is highly qualified to moderate a GSB presidential debate, as he was candidate for the office himself in the 2012 election and is a former GSB senator,” Hughes said.

Hillary Kletscher and Khayree Fitten will be the only two candidates to debate after the GSB Supreme Court ruled on Thursday morning that Barry Snell and Richard Martinez were not eligible to vote because they did not meet the requirement of receiving 500 signatures to be placed on the official ballot.

Adam Guenther, GSB election commissioner, said he thinks general issues in the Government of the Student Body will be addressed, but specific issues dealing with the student body as a whole will also be addressed.

The GSB elections will be March 4 – 5, voting will takes place online at vote.iastate.edu.