Students who make decisions impacting almost every student on campus will be selected today in the elections of two student groups.

The Association of Residence Hall Students (ARHS) and the University Park Allocations Committee (UPAC) will hold joint elections for the second year in a row today. Students can vote by going to www.elections.psu.edu 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

ARHS often has input into decisions regarding on-campus housing and food services. It is also partially responsible for campus programming, especially in the residence halls. UPAC is responsible for allocating funds to clubs and student organizations.

Only two spots in the ARHS elections are being campaigned for by more than one candidate. Matthew Borgia, Catherine Rowe (freshman-labor and employment relations) and Paul Russ (freshman-economics) are running for South Halls ARHS representative. Jason Lin (junior-mechanical engineering) and Kayla McPherson(freshman-international politics and medieval studies) are both running for West Halls president.

Kim Roth, ARHS elections committee chairwoman, wrote in an e-mail message that the number of candidates in the election was about average, and that it was unexpected to have some contested races.

For each area, the positions of president, executive vice president, administrative vice president, two ARHS representatives and treasurer are up for election. The president and ARHS representative from each area also has a voting membership in ARHS. Depending on the area, either the executive vice president or the administrative vice president is also a member of ARHS.

Greg Heleniak, UPAC chairman, said the number of candidates in this year's UPAC election is lower than in past years. There are eight UPAC openings up for election, but only three candidates, Nicholas Mance, Praveen Chandramouli and Abe Gitterman (junior-political science, history and crime law and justice), round out the ballot.

Both Heleniak and Roth said write-in candidates are encouraged. In ARHS elections, a write-in candidate must receive votes from at least 2 percent of the population of the area he or she is running for office in, except for candidates for North Halls, who must receive 5 percent.

One thing that is normal for UPAC elections, Heleniak said, is to see next to no campaigning by the candidates.

"It's very rare that people campaign," he said. "I'd actually be surprised to see people campaigning."

Roth agreed in her e-mail message that the low amount of campaigning was normal.

There will be a public polling place set up in the HUB-Robeson Center at the bottom of the main staircase, where students will be able to vote 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

UPAC and ARHS traditionally held elections in conjunction with the Undergraduate Student Government (USG), but opted to hold separate elections last year.

It was not possible for the two groups to hold elections with the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) this year because UPUA's elections are slated to take place almost a month later than UPAC and ARHS elections.