Daily Egyptian Politics Editor

The Undergraduate Student Government election campaigns became ugly in the final day before the election, with the posting of anonymous negative flyers and a person in a chicken suit cavorting around campus.

Voting for the elections takes place today from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., during which time students will choose next year’s student trustee, USG president, vice president and senators.

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The presidential and vice presidential candidates are Rob Taylor and Pat Kelly of the Shakedown Party, Kristie Ayres and Jackie Smith of the Progress Party, and Sean Henry and Greg Akers of the Saluki Party.

Until Tuesday, campaigning had been fairly low key, with occasional flyers appearing at various campus locations and all flyers portraying a positive, opponent-friendly approach. However, three separate designs of flyers appeared in the Faner Hall breezeway Tuesday containing highly critical messages about Taylor and Kelly.

One such poster contained a Daily Egyptian photo from the fall of an unshaven Kelly meeting Gov. Jim Edgar wearing a hunting cap and carrying a coffee cup in his jacket pocket.

The posters contained no indication of authorship, leaving Taylor, Kelly and Shakedown Party members without a group to blame. Since the beginning of the USG campaign, though, Taylor and Kelly have vowed not to file grievances against their opponents.

The Progress and Saluki parties, however, have filed grievances on an almost daily basis ranging from complaints of candidates handing out flyers without prior consent of the Election Commission to improperly handing out flyers in the Student Center to using the USG newsletter as a forum for one party.

In addition to the Shakedown-unfriendly flyers, a student dressed in a chicken suit clucked across the Student Center and Faner Hall breezeway claiming to support the Progress Party. However, Progress leader Kristie Ayres said she did not know the mystery man in the chicken suit.

Taylor and Kelly said they are concerned with the number of students who will vote, and they want to see a record number of students determine this year’s election. Last year, less than 1,500 of SIUC’s 18,000 eligible on-campus students voted. The Action Party ticket of Dave Vingren and Megan Moore won with 553 votes.

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To combat this, the Shakedown leaders are pushing the act of voting more than their own party. Though they have set up information booths for their party during the past two days, they tell students the number of voters is more important to them than who wins the election. This mirrors a similar message Kelly used last year when running for student trustee. At that time Kelly said he was encouraging people to vote for one of his opponents rather than not vote.

Taylor’s campaign message is a simple one.

Vote for me or against me, he said. Every vote is a vote for student empowerment.

Saluki’s Sean Henry said as the final hours before election day approach, his level of excitement and enthusiasm has more than doubled. Henry spent Monday and Tuesday rallying support from Registered Student Organizations, fraternities and sororities and groups of students eating meals in residence hall cafeterias. The grassroots-style campaigning has left the Saluki Party with many supporters, Henry said.

I feel a lot more confident in our party after this afternoon, he said. We’re getting a lot of support from many different, diverse organizations. In fact, I’m surprised at the amount of support we have now.