The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) will be dropping the writ of the elections and hiring electoral officers earlier this year for the upcoming 2019 elections in a council meeting taking place next week.
The decision for early hiring comes in light of concerns from students and councillors about the time between the nomination period and the dropping of the writ that led to a byelection for three executive and six councillor positions last year, according to CUSA president David Oladejo.
CUSA’s electoral office is composed of five students-at-large, one Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and two Deputy Electoral Officers (DEO), which needs to be fulfilled before the writ is dropped as per bylaws.
Oladejo told the Charlatan that the longer time period will allow for “less likelihood for error.”
“Putting myself in the shoes of a first or second-year student, I think it can be a confusing time. It’s also headphones season, so a lot of students don’t want to talk to anyone in the halls,” he said.
“With the reform that was done last year after the first election, I think this year will be a lot smoother and now, we also have more room to promote elections.”
According to a previous article from the Charlatan, last year’s byelection marked the first CUSA election to mandate a two week-long period in between the nomination period and the time of the writ to be dropped, after motions were passed to amend the electoral process at a Feb. 27 council meeting.
Natalie York, CUSA’s vice-president (internal), said the extended time would also allow for increased transparency and awareness about the elections for potential candidates.
“From what I’ve heard, there’s been a scramble every year to have emergency council meetings to drop the writ and so bylaws were changed last year to give more time,” she said.
“The big thing is—among other things—I don’t want to make the councillors take their time out for emergency council meetings that can be prevented.”
York said the move will also increase diversity in candidates running for the election.
“I was someone who was in the know because of prior experience,” she said, “but if a student wanted to run independently or maybe didn’t know the procedure or was on a team that didn’t have that institutional knowledge from years prior, then obviously it is a move on transparency to allow for candidates like that to run.”
“The more candidates we have, the greater the ideas we’re going to have people bring to the table,” she added.
Fourth-year political science student Katia Maxwell said she thinks the increased time is a good improvement.
“I remember seeing a lot more mayhem during election season last year because of the process,” she said. “You can’t have for the process to start suddenly and then expect students to suddenly sign for people who you don’t even know that are running.”
But, Anind Kochar, a third-year engineering student, said he thinks while the increased time would allow for more candidates, it might frustrate more students because of being possibly stopped in the tunnels earlier.
“More people should be concerned about voting in general, there’s a lot people don’t know about that happens behind the scenes and that’s what CUSA does—all the behind-the-scenes stuff,” he said.
York said it’s been “surprisingly easier to get applicants” for the positions in the electoral office.
“I’ve been getting applications from people that I wouldn’t normally have expected to be receiving them from,” she said. “But it’s still been a struggle, because people are busy and I think it’s also an intimidating position for people to have.”
“It’s a hard position to fill because you want someone who is involved enough that they know about how it all works, but you also don’t want someone that is too involved that they come with all these biases.”
CEO and DEO applications closed Nov. 27, but students-at-large positions are still available.
Interviews for all available positions are currently being conducted until the CUSA council meeting held Dec. 5, where the writ is expected to drop after the electoral office is ratified.
File photo
