Mani also said that the race this year will be just as intense as last year’s.

“We think the smaller field will highlight the real differences between the various tickets,” she said.

Another source of the decrease in the number of candidates may have been the linking of Mahan, who chairs the Student Affairs Committee, and Blickstead, the council’s treasurer—a formidable set of opponents, according to some.

The pairing came as a surprise to both council members and the candidates themselves.

“I really thought Mike was going to run against me for a while,” Mahan said.

Due to a policy change, this year’s potential candidates were allowed to campaign while collecting signatures for their election petitions.

Last year, the election commission banned campaigning until the petitions had been submitted.

“I think that they were good changes,” Barro said. “While collecting signatures you can tell people what you would do if you won. I talked to mostly freshmen.”

—Staff writer Ebonie D. Hazle can be reached at hazle@fas.harvard.edu.