Much of Muncie's political focus has turned to the mayoral contest between incumbent mayor Sharon McShurley and State Rep. Dennis Tyler, but they're not the only candidates seeking election.
Candidates vying for city council have also campaigned over the past few months. Muncie City Council at-large seats are up for grabs, along with a few district positions.
Ball State falls within districts 2 and 4, but neither of those seats are contested. Mark Conatser, R-District 2, has held the seat since 2008 and has worked for Conatser Heating and Cooling since 1999.
Republican Brad Polk currently holds the councilman position in District 4. Polk won the election in 2007 and is also the chairman at the Delaware County Republican Party.
Though district elections that would affect Ball State have no competition, at-large seats, which affect the entire city of Muncie, can still be voted on by students.
Democrats Linda Gregory, Alison Quirk and Nora Evans Powell and Republicans Kathie O'Nieal, Gavin Greene and Murray Bartholome are all in the running for three at-large spots.
Gary Crawley, assistant professor of political science, said the race could have a large impact on how Muncie runs.
"If at least four Republicans are elected and McShurley holds her position, she will be in a better spot," Crawley said.
Currently, the Democrats occupy six out of nine city council positions. It's those numbers, Crawley said, that have caused much of the political problems in the past four years.
"With a two-thirds majority, the city council can override a mayoral veto," he said. "This causes problems for McShurley."
If Tyler were elected, Crawley said the candidate's ideal city council would be as it stands today.
The inability to work together has plagued the city council for the majority of their last term. Both Democrats and Republicans hope this changes in the next election, according to candidates Greene and Gregory.
"At the risk of sounding too slogan-y, my hope is that we can work together," Gregory said.
Gregory is one of two incumbents for the at-large election. Her fellow incumbent is Quirk, a Ball State graduate.
Greene, who sits on the other side of the political spectrum as Gregory, said he wants the city council to work together, even through bipartisanship.
"I want to make positive decisions and move the City of Muncie in the right direction," Greene said. "I want to be a cohesive group."
With district elections already decided for the Ball State area, some students may not see the point in going through the trouble of making it to the polls. But Greene and Gregory agree on one thing — the importance of voting, if only for different reasons.
"[Students] might not necessarily think that it affects them," Greene said. "But for the nine months they live here, students are a big influence on local businesses."
Gregory's push for votes was more fundamental.
"Voting is the first responsibility of a citizen, in my opinion," she said. "Ball State students are adults now, and they can have an impact."
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