Leaders of the Independent Party said they have decided to discontinue their campaign for ASUU elections.
Cameron Hansen, the party’s presidential candidate, said although the Associated Students of the University of Utah elections provide an avenue for change, the group decided it was not the best route for them right now because of the extensive time commitments required by the election process.
“Although we felt that we could make an impact on students and the U, we just felt that prior outstanding commitments would have prevented us from running an effective campaign,” Hansen said. “We felt that under the current election system, the only way that we could be competitive and have a good chance of winning was to sacrifice our prior commitments, which we felt we were unable to do. As the process is set up now, we feel that it is just too difficult for us to run a full-time campaign and remain full-time students.”
The group came to the decision late Tuesday night, after filing to run Friday, the last day to declare candidacy in the elections. During the weekend, the candidates sat down to evaluate where they stood in the campaign process, Hansen said. After seeing the resources that other campaigns had, as well as the amount of time other parties had already invested in the process, they made the decision to discontinue the campaign.
“Although we had many great ideas and felt like we could change the U and make an impact, we have seen how developed other campaigns are,” said Parker Ence, the group’s vice presidential nominee. “We realize that most campaigns take months and months to put together. We decided to run relatively recently8212;just last week in fact. We just felt that the personal toll a campaign would take in each of our lives would be too great for us to be effective candidates.”
Although the group felt the timing was not good, McKenzie Newton, the group’s senior class president nominee, said the group will still strive to give back to the U.
“We all love the U,” Newton said. “But we are already committed to other groups. We don’t feel that ASUU elections are the best way for us to give back at the current time. We wish the others good luck, but it is just not right for us. We will each continue to give back in our own endeavors.”