The Marquette Student Government presidential elections ended Wednesday and the campaigning strategies leading up to them utilized tried-and-true methods to rally the vote.

The candidates' advertising choices were governed by the amount of money they were allowed to spend. Each team was allotted $500 for such purposes in accordance with constitutional regulations.

T-shirts were abundant this campaign season with colors that included red for the Hermanny-Feste ticket and pink for the McCartan-Kandler team, both of which won last week's primary election. The McNamee-Dollerschell ticket opted for yellow and the Mays-Bartzen team chose green.

Such T-shirts can cost from $3.20 at Printamatic to $4.85 at All-Star Sportswear, according to findings of the Elections Committee.

Although the Mays-Bartzen and McNamee-Dollerschell tickets did not advance to the general elections, they campaigned within familiar territory.

Andrew Mays, a College of Arts & Sciences junior, and Kelly Bartzen, a College of Business Administration sophomore, spent $466.05, according to the receipts they submitted.

Some things on their shopping list included ribbon, Andes mints, posters, T-shirts and hot chocolate.

Similar items were purchased by Megan McNamee, a College of Arts & Sciences junior, and her running mate, John Dollerschell, a College of Health Sciences junior.

Based on their receipts, the team spent about $463.02 on T-shirts, Office Max supplies, Dum-Dums, duct tape and printing costs.

The Hermanny-Feste and McCartan-Kandler teams ran in the general election Wednesday.

College of Arts & Sciences juniors Alex Hermanny and Beth Feste bought T-shirts, paper, posters, Twizzlers, Hawaiian Punch, cups and Web site hosting. Their receipts added up to $475.73.

Hermanny said he and Feste relied on friends and staff to further their platform by word of mouth.

Hermanny added he looked to the past for further ideas and used frugality in campaigning decisions.

Brant McCartan, a College of Health Sciences junior, and Sara Kandler, a College of Arts & Sciences junior, purchased their T-shirts and buttons for a special student rate at ABC T-shirts and Super Star Badge & Buttons, both located at 2338 W. Burnham St.

Noor Ahmad, the stores' owner, said his establishments provide discounts to schools, churches, the Boys & Girls Club, the United Way of Greater America and other non-profit organizations.

"We give students discounts all the time," he said.

According to election rules, all candidates must submit their receipts to the MUSG Elections Committee to ensure they stayed within their budgets.

By March 6, receipts for the McCartan-Kandler ticket totalled about $473.20, which included Web site hosting, copies, paper, poster board, paint and Super Bubble Gum to promote their "Break the Bubble" campaign.

But allegations of overspending surfaced.

According to verification procedures, the Elections Committee surveyed three other shirt-making establishments and concluded that the McCartan-Kandler ticket allegedly spent $660.16, $160.16 more than the allotted $500.

The committee then docked eight percentage points from the McCartan-Kandler campaign in the primary elections.

The candidates appealed within 24 hours, according the regulations, but the appeals committee upheld the decision.

The release of primary election results, which were scheduled to be released at a press conference March 10, were delayed until Friday afternoon.

Brad Held, elections coordinator and College of Arts & Sciences junior, said the strategies did not differ much from previous years.

"People used their budgets to purchase the same items," Held said.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Mar. 17 2005.