The elections for the 2009-10 UPUA body will take place on April 1. No joke. So, to make sure that yall are ready for the big day, we are going to be walking you through all things UPUA related: what the UPUA does, how the election will work, what the positions are, and what the candidates want to do if elected.

An 18-page document, provided by the UPUA, details the election process. Since no one but the most wonkish Penn Staters want to read through that kind of logistical leviathan, Onward State has parsed it for your pleasure (or pain?). The election is run by the UPUA Election Commission, which is composed of six members. The positions and their current occupants are listed below.

Head Elections Commissioner (Alex Goldstein)

Deputy Commissioner for Candidacy (Jasmine Rushun)

Deputy Commissioner for Campaigning (Richard Shermanski)

Deputy Commissioner for Election Publicity (Michael Pipe)

Deputy Commissioner for Information Technology (Jacob Budin)

Deputy Commissioner for Administration and Enforcement (Matt Lachman)

The commissioner positions are selected, not elected, and each commissioner is paid $200 for his or her involvement with the election.

The Deputy Commissioner for Candidacy is responsible for ensuring that all candidates qualify as such according to the prescribed stipulations. The requirements are pretty lenient. The President and Vice President must have been students at University Park for two semesters, while one semester suffices for every other position. And, obviously, the Representative for the College of Liberal Arts must be in the College of Liberal Arts, the Representative for the Eberly College of Science must be in the Eberly College of Science, etc.

The rest of the positions are pretty self explanatory. For example, the Deputy Commissioner for IT manages the website; the Deputy Commissioner for Publicity publicizes the election; etc.

Here’s the schedule for the next two weeks:

Monday March 16: Campaigning began at 5:00 am today.

Wednesday March 18: The first presidential debate will be held in the HUB Auditorium at 7:30 pm. The debate will be streamed online here. Students can also submit questions for the debate here.

Friday March 27: The ‘Meet the Candidates’ event will be going on all day on the ground floor of the HUB.

Monday March 30: The second presidential debate will be held in the HUB auditorium at 7:30 pm. The debate will be streamed online here. Students can also submit questions for the debate here.

Wednesday April 1: Election day! Voting occurs online at the election website.

The UPUA Election Commission has set up a Twitter account and a Facebook event if you are looking for more information.

One last thing… Alex Goldstein posted this video last night updating yall about how the election is proceeding. It’s good to see the Commision is making such a strong effort at publicizing and executing the process.