There's another candidate for the student government presidency that nobody knows about yet: Elijah Lawrence.

Lawrence is the fictional presidential candidate developed for what Michael Pipe (junior-political science) calls a "mockumentary" chronicling the election process of the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA).

The film follows Lawrence's character, but it also features interviews and footage of the real candidates as well.

Pipe said he developed the idea while brainstorming ideas of how to inform students about Penn State Network Television (PSNtv), but eventually decided to use the fake candidate to "energize [students] about the process" of UPUA elections.

The main purpose of the film, Pipe said, was to get a greater voter turnout. He said the events planned by the election commission were largely ineffective, citing the executive ticket debate he attended last Friday night in which he said he was the only undecided voter in attendance.

"This is another way to bring some people into the process," he said of the film. "Students can see the behind the scenes of the elections."

Pipe's friends play the fake candidate and the candidate's entourage. Pipe said the fake candidate was necessary partly because he wanted to film direct interactions between a candidate and students, something Pipe said he hasn't seen much of during this campaign.

As part of the third episode of the documentary, Pipe organized an event at about noon yesterday during which four of the executive tickets gathered to answer the question, "Why should students vote in this election?"

Presidential candidates Ricardo Torres, Daniel Hadas and Peter Johnson, as well as vice presidential candidate Mike Wallace, all agreed it is important for students to vote to gain respect from the administration.

No students stopped to listen during the event, which lasted about 15 minutes. Pipe said he was disappointed at the response but said if even 10 undecided voters heard the message he would consider it a "success" based on a contrast to the debate he attended.

The candidates all said Pipe's documentary is a good thing for students.

Hadas said Pipe had a "noble goal."

"I really appreciate what he's doing," Hadas said. "Kudos to Mike."

Torres suggested the documentary should be shown during classes or in the HUB-Robeson Center in order to give it more publicity. He said he is "interested to see the final product."

Johnson echoed the sentiments of the other candidates.

"Any time you can get more students involved it's great," he said.

Wallace said it was positive that "there are people out there that are following this."

Video of the event, as well as the rest of the documentary, will be posted on the Web site, elijahlawrence.com, Pipe said.