Magnifying glass and voting ballot
Have you voted in AUSU’s council election yet? Polls opened on Wednesday and you’ve got until Tuesday to vote.
Before you vote, spend some time getting to know the candidates. There are 15 candidates vying for 13 council seats. The successful 13 in this election are the folks who will be representing AU undergrad students’ interests for the next two years. A strong, committed group around the council table is preferable to a fractious, ineffectual one—your choice matters.
Although the candidate debates have already taken place (and you can still listen to the debate recordings) other opportunities to assess the candidates running for election remain.
Candidate blogs. Each candidate supplied AUSU with a brief introduction. You can access the intros individually from the Elections page, or altogether on the Election Blog page. Each intro states the candidate’s locale, and what that candidate thought most important to say about themselves to voters. Several candidates included campaign posters or videos, which are linked from their blog page.
Election forum. AUSU created special Election Forums to provide students the opportunity to interact directly with candidates. On the forums, you can direct questions to all or specific candidates, or simply view the discussions started by other students. There are two sub forums, one for candidate biographies, and the other for questions for candidates. You don’t need to be logged in to view the forums, but you do need to login to post questions or participate in discussion threads.
The Voice Magazine. Not only did The Voice publish a Q&A piece on the current candidates in the Feb 23 issue, but some of the candidates have appeared in The Voice previously. Sarah Blayney Lew and Joshua Ryan both ran in the 2016 council by-election; you can read what they said about themselves then in The Voice‘s September 30, 2016 candidate Q&A piece, Policies & Personalities—The Voice Magazine Probes AUSU By-Election Candidates. (Amanda Lipinski and Mark Teeninga also ran in the 2016 by-election, but didn’t participate in the Q&A.)
Several candidates running in this election have been featured in The Voice‘s student interview series, Minds We Meet. You can read the November 20, 2015 interview with Brandon Simmons, the October 21, 2016 interview with Joshua Ryan, the September 22, 2017 interview with Brittany Daigle, and the October 6, 2017 interview with Lionel Pinkhard.
You only have a few more days to assess the candidates and enter your vote for those you want to represent you. Polls close Tuesday, March 6. Your link to vote is in the e-mail AUSU sent February 28 to all undergrad students.
For more information on the AUSU election, visit www.ausu.org/governance/elections.
