Experience and the voters of the Towers Residence Association will be key factors in the outcome of the Inter-Residence Hall Association presidential elections, said the slate members running for election.

Voting for the election takes place today in Richardson Court Association, Union Drive Association and TRA.

The slates, with presidents listed first, are as follows:

* Jeff Greiner, sophomore in history, and Paul Duncan, sophomore in transportation and logistics

* Luke Howell, junior in political science, and Aaron Schmidt, senior in computer engineering

* Tom Plagge, junior in computer engineering, and Chris Benson, junior in animal science.

The votes in the individual residence hall associations could have an impact in the election. Each slate has at least one member living in the RCA, and all candidates agreed the outcome in RCA is hard to predict.

“I think we’ll do well in all associations. I think the RCA vote is going to be split hard because of all the candidates in RCA,” Benson said.

Greiner said he might have an advantage in UDA since he lives there, but he, and everyone else, is unsure whom Towers residents will favor.

“TRA is a toss up — nobody knows how they are going to vote yet. None of the candidates are from Towers,” he said.

Amy Sywassink, member of the polling subcommittee for the IRHA Election Committee, said prior positions on student government could affect the race.

“It might come down to previous experience that each candidate has,” she said.

Plagge, Benson, Greiner and Duncan are currently serving on IRHA. Schmidt and Howell are both resident assistants and have experience on RCA government.

However, vice-presidential candidate Schmidt said his and Howell’s lack of IRHA experience should not hurt their campaign.

Sywassink said she expects more residents to vote this year because the 1999 race was uncontested.

“I think we’ll have a better turnout than in previous years because we have three slates running,” said Sywassink, IRHA director of Conferences.

Sywassink said residents should take IRHA elections seriously because it affects their everyday lives.

“This is the voice of the residents. [IRHA] makes a lot of decisions that concern the residence halls. If people don’t like the way things are run now, this is the chance to change that,” she said.

Besides IRHA president and vice presidents, residents will also vote for IRHA’s executive positions today. Voting for the UDA executive positions begins at 7 a.m. RCA and TRA voting starts at 10 a.m.