A different sort of UMSU election

Changes to election policy will affect campaign, election

Andrew Sain Staff

This year’s UMSU general election will take place from March 1 to 3, and students may notice that some things will be different this time around, according to Caitlin Brown.

Brown, the chief returning officer for this year’s election, said that allowing candidates to campaign during the voting period and the addition of new elected vice-president positions would be the major changes to this year’s election.

These changes, approved by UMSU council in November, will allow students to vote-in the entire executive, including four vice-presidential positions, and will eliminate the formation of formal slates.

“With the five vice-president and president structure, it’s going to make this election a lot more chaotic, slightly more expensive, but more democratic in the long run,” said Brown.

She added that the new format might make it more difficult for students to understand the affiliations between candidates in this election, and she stressed that students should look carefully at the platforms of the candidates.

Though there are no official slates in this election, candidates will be able to form unofficial slates. They will also be permitted to refer to slates in their campaign materials. The costs for materials, however, will not be pooled, but will be calculated for each candidate individually.

In addition to this, although candidates can refer to one another and any potential unofficial slates in their materials, they will not be able to place several copies of the exact same poster at one location.

This “make[s] each candidate more accountable, and it also gives individual candidates who are not part of a slate a better opportunity,” according to Brown. She added, however, that she doesn’t expect any drastic changes in the way that campaigns are organized.

Each candidate will be allowed to put up 150 posters around campus, with one in each building. Most postering will be in pre-determined locations, where each candidate will be represented. Banner locations will be decided by a random drawing at the candidates’ meeting, after nominations close.

With the addition of several new elected positions, students can expect to see a much larger number of candidates than in other years. At press time no candidates had returned completed applications, but 15 nomination packages had been given out.

For a candidate to be considered, they must return a nomination package along with 100 student signatures. The deadline for applications is this Friday, February 10, at 5 p.m..

The large number of candidates and positions that Brown anticipates will also have an impact on the design of the election ballot. Brown said that she was trying to make separate ballots for each of the executive positions, and one combined for the elected community representatives. UMSU bylaws stipulate that each student has the right to one secret ballot, though Brown is hopeful that students will be able to vote using multiple secret ballots, if they so desire.

Although candidates are voted for independently, slate names may appear on the ballot along with the candidate’s name — at the candidate’s discretion, said Brown.

This election will also feature enhanced procedures designed to prevent voter fraud.

“Because of the referendum, because I know there [were] maybe problems with tracking voters, although it wasn’t a huge problem . . . we’re going to have paper ballots with electronic tracking systems. Everybody that votes will come to the polling booth with their student number and student ID, the polling clerk will read them back their number and punch it in, and as soon as they hit enter it will show if that student has voted or not.”

The electronic tracking system will consist of networked laptops at all voting stations, using the university’s existing wireless hotspots when possible to inform all stations of a voter’s status.

The addition of this digital system means that students will now be able to vote at any polling station on campus, at locations that are yet to be determined, based on where wireless Internet access is available for the computers.

Brown advises students to be “hard on candidates” and to “ask them tough questions and try to get real answers, try to not just get caught up in hype but take it seriously.”

This will be Brown’s first UMSU election as the CRO, though she has experience poll-clerking during the recent CFS referendum and past federal elections. She is a part-time student here at the U of M. Brown will be assisted by Megan Bell, the deputy returning officer. Candidates are encouraged to contact either Brown or Bell at 474-7208 with any questions.