Campaigning for the Government of the Student Body elections officially begins today, and candidates are gearing up for the executive and senate races.

There are two presidential slates running this year.

The first slate is composed of Ben Studenski, senior in industrial engineering, and Chris Robert, sophomore in computer engineering, who are running for president and vice president, respectively.

The second slate is composed of Matt Craft, junior in political science, and Garrett Toay, junior in agricultural business vying for president and vice president, respectively.

Robert said he and Studenski’s campaign will put emphasis on the people who will vote: the students.

“The main theme of our campaign is going to be students first, and our goals are going to be to make GSB more accessible to students,” he said. “We also want to make the election process more accessible to students.”

He said they would like to look into different ways for students to vote, such as using AccessPlus.

Robert said he and Studenski also want to make improvements in policies regarding student funds and tuition.

“GSB collects dues, but they do not spend all of the student money,” he said. “Since there are leftovers at the end of the year, we are looking into a way to be able to return it back to students.”

Craft said he and Toay want to try to get students more informed about GSB.

“A lot of students right now don’t know what’s going on in GSB and what’s on the agenda, and GSB is really a more productive organization than students give them credit for,” he said.

Craft said he and Toay are exploring various ways to reach this goal.

“One of the ways we’d achieve this is to hold a weekly radio show on KURE, expand the Web page and also we would both attend more meetings of different student organizations so they could have easier access to contact us,” he said.

Craft said they also are looking to tackle some issues that seem to resurface every year.

“We are looking at some things that typically reoccur, such as tuition, which is more than likely to go up next year,” he said. “We are also looking into lobbying the regents earlier in the summertime, so they are aware of the financial strain on students before they make their proposals.”

Some GSB senators already have their own opinions about the election’s candidates and its results

Wendell Mosby, FCS, said he thought Robert would make an efficient vice president in some respects.

“I can see the senate meetings going real smoothly with no discrepancy in the bills,” Mosby said.

However, Mosby said he also could see Toay as a popular candidate.

“As an IFC senator, I can see him pulling a lot of votes, especially from his constituency among the greek system,” he said.

Ryan Glanzer, OCC, said having only two executive tickets for an election is unusual.

“I think the election turnout is going to be a lot more lopsided … Usually it’s been pretty close when you have three or more tickets running,” he said.

“From this point on, the two groups are going to have to get out and talk to people, and the group that seems most knowledgeable and the most friendly and student-oriented will probably get a staggering majority of the votes,” he said.