URSU by-elections not a concern for students

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Probably not the best month to hold a by-election. Photo - Brett Nielsen

Probably not the best month to hold a by-election. Photo – Brett Nielsen

Students now limited in voting categories

Oct. 6, 2015 marks the beginning of the voting period for the URSU by-elections. Eight positions are being contested, with only one position having more than one candidate. The positions that the student body will be electing include—(names of prospective candidates in brackets): FNUC Director (Ashley Herbert), KHSS Director (Sena Debia and Mark Matthies), Luther Director (Dustin Koch), LGBTQ Director (Emily Barber), Nursing Director (Courtney Lamothe), Part-Time Student Director (Maria Aman) and Women’s Director (Gina Soparlo).

This year’s elections mark a shift in voting rules. Where previously every student could vote for every position, now one can only vote for those categories to which they apply. For example, if you are an arts student, you will only be eligible to vote for the arts’ representative and not, say, one of the two kinesiology candidates.

Despite a number of posters advertising the by-elections around campus, there is surprisingly little interest from students in the by-election. The Carillon tried to find students interested in discussing which URSU position was most important to them, but we couldn’t find a single student who even knew the elections were going on.

“I’m not too interested,” said Tate, a second year business student.

“I wasn’t actually planning on voting,” said Sally, an engineering student. “I don’t know much about it. I haven’t been paying attention.”

Justin, a music student, said he had “no idea” that the by-election was happening. “I don’t know what it’s about… maybe if it’s advertised more.”

The nomination period for the by-elections began on Sept. 12 and ran until Sept. 20. The campaign period followed, taking place between Sept. 28 and Oct. 5. The voting period began October 6 and concludes on Oct. 8.

 

For more information, visit URSU’s website at http://ursu.ca/about-ursu/elections

 

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