The University Park Undergraduate Association announced the names of the candidates running for the 14th Assembly Wednesday, including just one executive ticket of UPUA veterans Laura McKinney (president) and Jake Griggs (vice president). This marks the second consecutive year with only one set of candidates vying for leadership of the student body.

Elections for the 14th Assembly will take place on Wednesday, March 27, but there will be plenty of opportunities to meet the candidates before then. For now, here’s a look at who’s running and a little more information about the executive ticket.

Laura McKinney & Jake Griggs

The only executive ticket running for office this year is Laura McKinney and Jake Griggs. McKinney is currently a junior and the vice president of UPUA, and Griggs is currently a junior at-large representative and the chair of UPUA’s governmental affairs committee.

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There are also 27 students running for the 20 available at-large seats, compared to 32 who ran for the 20 seats last year. Additionally, there is one seat available for each academic college, though most colleges only have one student running.

At-Large Representatives

• Tyler Akers
• Avinash Saraiya
• Aphrodite Biswas
• Erin Boas
• Rodney Burgwin
• YuNa Choi
• Brendan Erwin
• Brady Feuer
• Marlowe Galbraith
• Mariana Garcia
• Anthony Guzzo
• Sarah Jordan
• Jacob Klipstein
• Tyler Ladzinski
• Zachary McKay
• Genevievre Miller
• Adeline Mishler
• Percy Mottley III 
• Danny Muldowney
• Lexy Pathickal
• Kathrine Schaberl
• Madison Starr
• Daniel Stauffer
• Alejandra Trejo
• Sarthak Vij
• Harry Weidner
• Steven Zhang

Academic Representatives

Agricultural Science
Quinn Logush

Arts and Architecture
None

Bellisario College of Communications
None

Division of Undergraduate Studies
Bridget Glasgow

Earth & Mineral Sciences
None

Eberly College of Science
Diego Santos

Education
Chelsey Wood

Engineering
Bryan Culler

Information Science and Technology 
Ryan Loscalzo
Isabella Webster

Liberal Arts
Helia Hosseinpour

Schreyer Honors College
Noelle Musolino
Steve Schneible (also an Onward State staff writer)

Smeal College of Business
Thomas Sarabok

Nursing
Ellen Maple

Health and Human Development
Patricia Birungi
Yoo Jin Jeong

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Since UPUA’s 12th Assembly outlawed the practice of cross-filing, or essentially running for an executive ticket and a representative seat at the same time, both subsequent elections have featured only one executive ticket.

Cross-filing allows losing executive candidates to still become representatives in the Assembly, should they choose to do so and receive enough votes as a representative. Those against cross-filing argue that students who aspire to become representatives could run on executive tickets to use the increased spending cap and publicity to boost their name recognition on the ballot. However, not allowing cross-filing can discourage qualified candidates from running on executive tickets because they’re afraid of being ousted from the organization entirely if they lose.

The current 13th Assembly considered an amendment to the UPUA Election Code to effectively reinstate cross-filing, meant to rejuvenate competition, and it was voted down.

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Though the candidates have officially been announced, no ticket (executive or otherwise) is able to begin campaigning until Monday, March 11.