Four hopefuls for the offices of president and vice president have expressed interest in the executive positions of the Government of the Student Body.

The candidates, Henry Alliger, speaker of the senate, and Sarah Walter, director of student diversity; Angela Groh, director of governmental relations, and Christopher Deal, recently seated engineering senator; Casey Sinnwell, junior in political science, and Michael Cleary, junior in aerospace engineering; and Daniel Sherman, freshman in liberal arts and sciences-open option, and Abby LaCombe, off-campus government senator, will officially announce their bids for the offices Tuesday.

GSB President Sophia Magill said each person will have different leadership abilities, but all candidates for the executive office should do three things.

Candidates should have the willingness to serve the student body, to be flexible and adapt to change, and be open to criticism and welcome peoples’ suggestions, she said.

“Anywhere I go, there are students talking to me about different issues,” Magill said.

She said she is always acting as a GSB representative, and candidates should expect to do the same.

Election commissioner Caleb Shinn said that, in addition to the executive slates, he expects 35 to 50 people to run for the 20 open senator positions.

Will Rock, GSB vice president, said more than 5,000 people voted in last year’s election — making it the second-highest turnout ever at Iowa State.

Sanam Qadri, GSB director of student voting, said he hopes to increase the total number of people voting from 5,000 to 7,500 at this year’s election, which will be held March 7 and 8.

“I think it’s a fairly attainable goal,” he said.

Qadri conducted a survey this year on why people did not vote in the last election.

“The main reason people did not vote is they were unaware of the election,” he said.

Qadri said voter turnout could be increased by creating fliers, sending e-mail to faculty members requesting they mention the election in class and sending the five election commission members to appear in classes.

“One of the biggest concerns of mine is people are unaware of what GSB does,” Qadri said. “I want to try to make sure that the students know it’s essential to vote.”

He said GSB is involved with issues that affect all students and he wants the candidates to publicize their slates more.

Rock said it is imperative for people to vote because GSB is an important part of student life.

The organization appropriates more than $1.5 million to campus groups and organizations.

GSB also goes to meetings with the Board of Regents and talks to state legislators.

“We do the job so the students don’t have to,” he said.

Candidate seminars will be offered five different times Tuesday through Friday, offering students a chance to participate in the election.

“It is the foundation for the whole campaign,” Shinn said.

He also said students must attend one of these seminars if they are planning on running for either the executive office or for a senate position.

Only in situations where the seminar times conflict with pre-scheduled events and other individually based situations will he set up a time to speak to potential GSB candidates who cannot attend one of the meetings, he said.

The meetings will inform candidates on deadlines, election rules and GSB by-laws.

Information on how to run a proper campaign and a timeline of events will be covered at the meetings, Shinn said.