Vanderbilt Student Government kicked off its presidential election season Sunday evening at a meeting in Sarratt Student Center, when members distributed petition forms and explained election rules. For the most part, the process will proceed as usual. The meeting outlined the rules candidates must follow; among them, candidates must wait until the official start date to solicit votes and discuss their platforms, only accept campaign donations under $20 and are not allowed to post campaign materials on other's doors.

Due to the small number of candidates, there will be no primary election.

"We only have two candidates, so there is no need for a primary," said Jared Anderson, VSG attorney general. In light of this, he said, the campaign time has been expanded to two weeks.

Juniors Wyatt Smith and Fabiani Duarte, the two presumptive candidates, begin the race officially at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday. Their running mates are sophomores Lori Murphy and Deno Saclarides, respectively.

Anderson, who is in charge of enforcing campaign rules and upholding VSG's constitution, shared what he hopes to see come out of the campaign.

"(I'd like to see candidates) uphold the standards of Vanderbilt community, campaigning with ideas of where they want to take our campus, putting their energy and passion into this campaign and sharing every conversation with the campus," he said.

Both candidates were excited about the opportunity to start Thursday and for the extra campaign time.

"It will allow for more debates and talking to more student groups," Smith said. "We can extend the discussion in ways in which students can be more empowered."
Duarte echoed Smith's sentiments.

"I want this campaign to be more than stickers, posters and something more than a debate that no one goes to," said Duarte. "Not only will students get to know us better, but they will be able to ask us questions about policy too."

Anderson said he hopes the voter turnout will increase due to the longer general campaign.

"It generally ranges between 40 and 50 percent, depending on the candidates," he said. The election will take place from 8 a.m. January 28 to noon January 29.

Sydney Wilmer contributed reporting to this article.