Dozens of hopefuls vie for a spot in a 16-candidate competition—and the lucky ones chosen will square off in a trying elimination round that will test their social skills.

No, it’s not the CBS reality show “Survivor.” It’s the class marshal election.

The Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) opened the first stage of online balloting for the senior class marshal posts yesterday morning. Fifty-nine candidates are aiming for the eight marshal positions, and all but 16 of them will be voted off the island—or, the ballot—in this first of two elections, which will close at 11:55 p.m. on Friday. The 16 contenders with the highest vote totals will participate in a second election next week.

With such a large field competing for the spots, some candidates have been actively campaigning to make themselves stand out from the pack.

For example, Jacki Chou ’07 has used targeted messages to try to win classmates’ votes.

“I’ve been sending semi-personal e-mails to my friends in the Class of 2007,” said Chou, who estimated she had contacted somewhere between 200 and 300 seniors through e-mail about the election.

Other candidates have decided to abstain from campaigning, preferring to take their chances on word-of-mouth support.

“I mostly just talked to personal friends,” said marshal contender Teddy Styles ’07. “A few people have sent e-mails out, which I feel takes it a little too far, so mostly I’ve just been talking to friends and asking them to tell other people to vote for me.”

Hoopes Wampler, director of college alumni programs and the administrator of the marshal election, did not anticipate significant campaigning.

“You know, I haven’t even heard of any this year,” said Wampler. “While there are no rules prohibiting campaigning, the spirit of the position is that it’s based on peoples’ past presence on the campus.”

Jack P. McCambridge ’06, who was a marshal last year, said it was “generally frowned upon” to campaign.

“One or two people created websites for themselves [last year],” he said.

The eight class marshals, together with the House representatives, the class secretary, and the class treasurer, will form the Senior Class Committee. Elections for House representatives will be held in October. The class treasurer and class secretary will be appointed later in the year by a vote of the Marshals and the House representatives.

The Senior Class Committee plans senior class events throughout the year, including Senior Week activities, and chooses the Class Day speaker. Members of the committee also organize alumni activities and work closely with the HAA, which will also runs elections for the House representatives each year.

The HAA required candidates for marshal to submit a petition with signatures from 25 classmates nominating the candidate for the position. Election results will be announced in an e-mail to the senior class on Monday.