About 100 fewer students qualified to run in this season's Student Government elections.
Qualifications for SG's spring elections started Friday. They will continue today and Tuesday on the second floor of the Reitz Union from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Qualifying determines whether a candidate is eligible for the job.
On Friday, 48 students had qualified. Last semester, 149 students qualified on the first day, said Supervisor of Elections Toni Megna.
After qualifying, if a student is interested in running with a political party, he or she will be interviewed by party members.
Students can interview with any party, but they have to tell Megna which party they want to slate with before qualifying ends Tuesday.
Once it ends, a student who chose to slate with a party cannot change his or her mind, even if that party doesn't choose him or her to run as a candidate.
Each party can interview as many students as it wants, but the party can only choose 50 candidates to slate on the ticket.
Students running as independents don't have to be interviewed.
The Students Party interviewed about 10 students, said Students Party Sen. Carly Wilson.
"It's been incredibly slow," she said.
Eliona Jankulla, an 18-year-old political science sophomore, interviewed with the Students Party for a nomination for a seat in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She said she found out about qualifying from a friend who ran for the Senate in the fall.
"I am interested in the leadership opportunity," she said.
The Unite Party saw 39 students on Friday, said party spokeswoman Christina Bonarrigo. She said that number is significantly lower than in the past, but she believes some students were going out of town for the weekend.
