Graduate students can now vote for their representatives through the mail.

The Graduate and Professional Student Council mailed out ballots March 29 that are due back April 10. There are 18 candidates running for election and five representatives up for re-election.

The GPSC is the legislative body that represents graduate students.

Jed Brown, wildlife and fisheries graduate student and GPSC elections officer, said the elections process was changed because last year's was confusing and inconvenient for graduate students.

"A lot of grad students didn't even know the elections were going on unless they were running," he said.

Voting is done by mail this year to better serve graduate students, Brown said. "It's a lot easier for them to vote now," he said.

GPSC also separated itself from the Associated Students of the University of Arizona elections because it wanted greater participation by graduate students and control over "our own elections," Brown said. "We're trying to move toward independence from th e undergraduate government and we feel this is a starting point."

The GPSC received more than $1,100 in funding from ASUA for its elections.

Candidates running for election needed 10 signatures on the nomination petition from their own colleges and departments to get their names on the ballot. Each graduate college elects its own GPSC representative. There are 26 seats in the GPSC, and current ly 19 representatives are in office.