Students in the residence halls are gearing up for the Inter-Residence Hall Association elections Wednesday.

Maple Hall and Buchanan Hall governments have decided to hold their elections at a later date and will not be listed on the ballot. Residents in those halls, in addition to students in Towers Residence Association, still have the chance to vote for the IRHA president/vice president slate and at-large representative.

There is only one president/vice president slate running in this election.

The elections are being held through Academic Information Technologies, and residents should go to www.vote.iastate.edu to vote.

“Elections are being held the same way [the Government of the Student Body] held theirs,” said Ross Kelderman, IRHA election commissioner.

In last year’s IRHA election, 335 residence hall residents voted. More than 7,400 students are living in the dorms as of fall 2004, according to the ISU Fact Book.

The turnout was disappointing, Kelderman said, and IRHA officials hope for higher turnout this year.

“It was our goal to get a lot of candidates to sign up so it wasn’t like last year,” he said. “The more slates you have, the more candidates you have out campaigning.”

In all of the 18 positions on the ballot for Wednesday, eight have multiple candidates, and every position has at least one candidate. Most positions allow for write-in candidates as well.

IRHA elections are being held earlier than in past years because of recent legislation its parliament passed, changing sections of the IRHA bylaws and constitution in an effort to streamline the organization.

“In IRHA, we voted to delay the election until the 6th,” said Keith Wilbur, Union Drive Association at-large representative. “The elections have been proceeding according to plan.”

The election for Friley Hall president is one of the most hotly contested races for an ISU hall government position in recent years, he said.

Kelly Leaman, sophomore in graphic design, and Brent Herrig, junior in art and design, are on the ballot for president of Friley. Because of a Friley Hall elections rule, the candidates are restricted to hanging campaign information on hall bulletin boards and bathrooms. Both candidates have used those areas.

“Some people are even advertising on Facebook,” Leaman said, in reference to Thefacebook.com — a popular online forum for social networks. “I think both people are very competitive.”

Kelderman said he thought the contested campaign would increase turnout.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if more than half of the building votes,” he said. “We have two very qualified candidates.”

Election results are planned to be announced at the IRHA meeting Thursday.