The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) council voted unanimously to pass the 2018 writ of election on Jan. 23.
Presented by chief electoral officer (CEO) Nada Ibrahim, the writ states that the nomination period for this year’s CUSA election will last from Jan. 25-26, with campaigning taking place from Jan. 31-Feb. 6. Voting will occur on Feb. 7 and 8.
By voting to pass the writ, council also approved shortening the election nomination period from the previous three days to two days.
“Due to my experience in the elections office, having three days is way too long, and it creates room for violations,” Ibrahim said. “Students get tired of saying ‘I am seeking nomination for a position.’ Instead they say ‘I’m running,’ and that can create a violation.”
CUSA president Zameer Masjedee was in favour of shortening the nomination period to two days.
“One of the biggest frustrations is students wanting to learn more about why it is that you’re running, and you being limited to only tell them that you’re actually just seeking nomination,” Masjedee said.
He added that shortening the nomination period could lead to students being less frustrated about being approached for signatures and campaign support in the tunnels.
“One of the things that we’ve found over the past number of years is that people hate CUSA election time,” Masjedee said. “I don’t think there’s a large issue in students being suppressed from running. I think if anything, we’re actually allowing students to warm up to CUSA elections across campus, and I think that’s the larger challenge that we’re having nowadays.”
But not all were in favour of the changes to nomination policies. Cameron Wales, a public affairs councillor, voiced concern about the shortened nomination period, saying that it could impact students who are seeking nomination and are required to collect a certain number of signatures in order to qualify.
“I think that as much as there may have been violations in the past and there may be violations again this year, that alone isn’t reason enough to shorten the nomination period,” he said. “I don’t want people to miss out on the opportunity to run simply because the nomination period is only going to be two-thirds of what it usually is.”
CUSA will also be implementing ranked ballot voting for all executive positions for the first time in its history. In a CUSA council meeting on Jan. 15, vice-president (internal) Cat Kelly said ranked ballot voting would be piloted in executive election races this year, which tend to have fewer candidates running for each position.
Ranked ballot voting will be introduced for constituency races next year if voter turnout does not decline this year due to ranked balloting.
The ranked voting method that will be implemented is what Tyler Hall, the programmer in charge of CUSA’s online ballot system, called the “matrix system.” According to a previous Charlatan article, this system lists candidates in a table with potential rankings on the opposite axis for voters to choose.
According to Ibrahim, one of the two deputy electoral officers, Zach Parkkari or Aiden Forsyth, will take the lead on familiarizing students with the ranked voting system. By hosting information sessions, hanging posters, and launching a website, Ibrahim said the elections office hopes to inform students about the new voting system with the goal of increasing voter turnout.
A change was also made in the electoral code to amend the number of required polling stations. According to Ibrahim, students’ use of physical polling stations to vote in CUSA elections has been minimal since the introduction of online voting in 2015.
As a result, council voted to decrease the number of required polling stations from 12 to five. The five polling stations will be located in the University Centre Atrium, the tunnels of Loeb Building, the tunnels by the MacOdrum Library, Residence Commons, and the Athletics Building Welcome Centre.
Photo by Rachel Emmanuel
