Elections, elections, elections – a topic that has swamped news wires across the country and is now entrenching itself deep into the veins of Iowa State. But not in the way you may be imagining.

Monday, Feb. 4 is the opening day for presidential candidates to get the ball rolling in their quest for the Government of the Student Body presidency. But, before any preliminary action, the GSB Senate must first seat the rest of the election commission.

Brian Phillips, GSB president and senior in political science, said getting the election commission set and changes to the election code ironed out will be primary concerns.

Tonight, senators will be presented with a bill that will roll back the current timetable to allow the appointment of commission members.

“Right now, we’re really focusing on election stuff,” Phillips said. “We should be finishing seating the election commission and Senate apportionment, and we’re required to pass revisions to the election code.”

He also said the election code will not incur any “major changes before the election.”

While the stabilization of the election commission is certainly a positive for GSB, the Senate will also see a number of new faces as new senators pouring in at a blistering rate following an unusually high amount of fall-semester turnover.

In the past two weeks, GSB may see up to four new senators, pending vote outcomes, and is still looking for more.

GSB Senate Speaker Paul Keppy, junior in political science, said new senators are always a welcome addition to GSB.

“Filling seats is always something that has been there,” Keppy said. “It’s nice to get rid of it [Senate voids] and focus on doing things for students instead of filling Senate seats.”

Aside from filling seats, Keppy agreed that the upcoming election is a major issue of importance.

He said that one of the things that is yet to be determined is apportionment, which will spell out more of the specific items on the election agenda, including Senator involvement.

Along with the chaos of the election commission, Senate will also face a number of important financial bills.

Finance Director Ryan Myers, graduate student in accounting, said a bill to sell off GSB’s current fleet of vehicles to the university may have an impact on student groups looking for transportation.

“It sounds like there aren’t many questions on this,” Myers said. “Selling the vehicles to the university should give student organizations a wider variety of options by having the entire university fleet to choose from, not just GSB’s nine vehicles.”

Other actions that may take place financially with GSB include the moving of $30,000 from the Capital Projects account to the Regular Allocations account.

Myers said the allocation of the extra funds will help add flexibility and efficiency to what has, in the past, been a tight financial period for GSB.

“This is a mini-solution to the large balance in the Capital Projects Account,” he said. “Regular Allocations is the most direct way that GSB puts money towards student organizations and student life.”