For the first time, five major student elections will now take place during the same week at the University of Connecticut. All campaigning and voting for the major student organizations will be held on the same days – March 21 to 28 – and voting will take place from March 28 at noon to March 31 at 5:00pm at www.vote.uconn.edu.

Combining the elections was the work of UConn’s Joint Elections Committee, which was created to encourage civic engagement by increasing participation among students by providing them with a more efficient way of campaigning and voting.

“The purpose is to strengthen civic engagement by increasing participation in running and voting, and to provide a simpler, more efficient method of campaigning and voting for students,” said UConn’s Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Christine Wilson.

On Tuesday, March 22, the traditional USG Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates will take place at 6pm in the Student Union Lobby. USG will also be sponsoring events and free giveaways this week to promote awareness.

March 21 through March 25 will be known as “Know your Candidates Week” and will consist of events such as ads, forums, debates, PSA’s, and interviews showcasing the elections and candidate campaigning.

Voting week will include Student Appreciation Day on March 28 on Fairfield Way with a rain date set for March 30. The Daily Campus will be running an insert this week that will include information on all of the candidates for all of the elections. Students can vote by logging on at www.vote.uconn.edu.

The campus groups that will be participating in Elections Week are: Undergraduate Student Government (USG), Undergraduate Student Member of the Board of Trustees, Student Representative to the UCONN Foundation Board of Directors, Co-op Board of Directors, and the Graduate Student Senate.

The Joint Elections Committee is chaired by Brien Buckman, current USG Comptroller. It is made up of students from the groups that are participating in the elections and fee-funded student organizations (USG, GSS, SUBOG, RHA, Daily Campus, WHUS, UCTV, Foundation Board, Student Trustee Election Committee, and the Co-op). The Department of Student Activities and Student Affairs IT provide administrative, technical, and marketing support.