In the wake of a tumultuous year, Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) is struggling to fill its 19 vacant positions for the 2009-10 school year.

Friday, March 20, is the deadline for applicants to apply to run for an ASI position for next year, and with the clock ticking, the number of petitions is looking scarce.

“In order to ensure a healthy Senate we need qualified people running for office and more than one person running for each position,â€Â said current ASI president Graham Wahlberg.

Any student can run for the positions of president, vice president of finance, or as a senator for a college or a senator at-large.

In last year̢۪s ASI elections a mere 18 petitions were received by the elections committee.

But as of Tuesday, only two petitions had been turned in according to Election Commissioner Allison Smith. She did add that 20 petitions had been picked up from the Student Union and that there is no way for her staff to monitor how many applications are being downloaded from their Web site.

“I have been told that students often wait until the last day to turn in their petitions,â€Â said Smith, who was elected to her current position in December.

While the University Student Union runs the elections, they are constantly in close collaboration with ASI in spreading the word and promoting the elections.

But following the amount of attention surrounding the resignations of former President Mackee Mason and former Executive Vice President Sandra Flores last semester, and the subsequent game of musical chairs among senators, some ASI members believe that students might not want to deal with the mess of ASI.

Smith said that the most challenging hurdle of the elections process is gaining student interest and participation.

“I think the most difficult aspect of getting students to apply is getting them to want to get involved in ASI,â€Â Smith said.

“But once students learn about the contributions they can make to their campus, they become more interested.â€Â

In order to create more interest, Wahlberg said his staff is attempting to make an end-of-the-year push to promote the positives of ASI and all the organization does.

He said that the job can be stressful, but he has learned more in his nearly four months in office than he ever thought possible and believes that it has been a rewarding experience.

“When you are part of the senate you get to represent an entire college,â€Â Wahlberg said. “You get to be a voice to a body that actually matters and can make a difference.â€Â

In order to put the word out about the positives of running for a student body office, both ASI and the USU have teamed up and have been using outlets such as Facebook advertisements, Bulldog Jobs, Bulldog Blog and the ASI Web site among others.

To make the petition process more accessible to students, forms have actually been placed onto the ASI Web site for students to print and fill out.

“In order for the election to be successful, we had to think of ways we could get the attention of the students,â€Â said Smith.

And while time is dwindling for submissions, students do still have time to apply, both Wahlberg and Smith said.