The Associated Student Government presidential election is entering the campaigning phase, and this year’s election is like no other. 

After a two-week delay in the election cycle and multiple slates dropping out of the race, Northwestern students will have the chance to vote for one of two tickets this weekend. SESP junior Christian Wade and Medill sophomore Adaeze Ogbonna, running for president and vice president, respectively, will face off against McCormick and Communication sophomore Sahibzada Mayed and Bienen and Communication sophomore McKenna Troy. 

But the two slates currently on the ballot didn’t enter the race until after the election was initially supposed to happen. 

This year’s voting period was first scheduled to run from April 15 to 17, Election Commission Chair Donovan Cusick told The Daily. ASG Analytics Chair Joe Maino and Chinese Students Association Senator Cindy Shou planned to run as a slate, but dropped out before the campaign period officially began. As a result, early in the cycle, SESP juniors Teresa Vergara Miranda and Daniel Rodriguez ran unopposed. 

Vergara Miranda and Rodriguez appeared at an April 14 town hall hosted by ASG in conjunction with For Members Only, during which the candidates discussed police abolition, Greek life and equity, among other topics. However, just a day later, Maino and Shou re-entered the race.

As a result, ASG called an emergency meeting on April 15, the day voting was supposed to open, to address Maino and Shou’s re-entry. By the end of the meeting, the election cycle was extended by two weeks, and Maino and Shou had dropped out again. The extended deadline also reopened the possibility of new slates joining the race. 

On April 19, days after the election extension, Vergara Miranda and Rodriguez dropped out of the race, leaving a completely open field as none of the original candidates remained. 

“We have decided to exit the race as a team,” Vergara Miranda told The Daily in an April 20 email. “We wish the best of luck to those stepping up to these positions, and we offer our guidance and time to those who would like to collaborate on ideas and solutions for Northwestern students.” 

Now, the Wade-Ogbonna and Mayed-Troy slates are the only two left standing, after both decided to enter during the extended filing deadline which passed Friday. 

[Read The Daily’s profiles of the Wade-Ogbonna and Mayed-Troy slates.]

Despite the chaos of this election cycle, Cusick said he’s thankful for the candidates in the race, and looks forward to the impact the winners will have on the NU community.

“There’s something to be said about everything that’s happened in our world in the past 14 months, and I think that that kind of spurred it,” Cusick said. “Everything that has happened has led to people becoming more passionate, becoming more excited. And people want to see good candidates, people want to see excitement, they want good change to happen at Northwestern.”

Voting will open Thursday at 7 p.m. through a link sent out to all students by the Election Commission. The form to vote can also be found on Wildcat Connection and the ASG election website, and will close at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Cusick said results will likely be released soon after. 

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @jacobnfulton

Related stories:

— Meet ASG presidential candidates Christian Wade and Ada Ogbonna

— Sahibzada Mayed and McKenna Troy emphasize human-centered design solutions in bid for ASG presidency

— ASG’s sole presidential slate drops out of race ahead of postponed election cycle