Associated Students, Inc. board members debated a proposal to remove candidates’ photos from the ballots for the upcoming elections on Wednesday.

Vice President of Academic Affairs Tucker Caruso asked the board to approve a change to remove the candidates’ pictures and have only candidate statements – 250 words introducing themselves to the voters – on the ballot.

“It is crucial to me that when we’re selecting our campus leaders that we’re making those decisions based on what somebody has to say on that statement, and not based on the way they look,” Caruso said. “So we can have stronger leaders going on forward and we make sure that candidates who work very hard on their candidate statement, students just don’t say, ‘what statement.’”

Caruso said he was prompted to recommend a change to the ballot after he learned from students that they did not know about the candidate statements and out of concern that students may not want to take or use a picture.

“[With the current ballots] it is kind of hard to see the candidates’ statements,” Caruso said. “The only thing you see is ‘click for more information.’”

Vice President of Finance Aryn Fields said she recommends the photos be placed on the bottom of the ballot rather than removing them completely, to make it balanced.

“It is important to make the candidate statements priority, but the downside to that is it is also true that people who we talk to in the halls, club meetings, etcetera will remember faces more than they will remember names,” Fields said.

Other board members agreed the pictures should remain on the ballots.

Director of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Kylee Homecillo said she is reluctant to agree to the proposed change, but re-formatting is a concern to her as well.

“I am concerned about the format of the pictures,” Homecillo said. “I feel the formatting of the pictures being on the bottom can be a little confusing.”

After objections to the proposal and board members wanting more time to think about it, Caruso agreed no immediate action would take place regarding the proposed changes.