Students’ Union campaign period kicks off; countdown to Feb. 5-6 election begins

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CRO Dani Saad explains the rules and restrictions of the Students' Union elections on Tuesday (Photo by Ryan Hueglin)
CRO Dani Saad explains the rules and restrictions of the Students’ Union elections on Tuesday (Photo by Ryan Hueglin)

The candidates have announced. The papers have been signed.

And the race has begun.

The 2014 campaign period kicked off on Tuesday with the all candidates meeting, bringing out all presidential, board of directors, board of governors and senate candidates who are running in this yearโ€™s Studentsโ€™ Union elections.

Four presidential candidates submitted nomination packages.ย  The number of board of directors candidates, senate and board of governors candidates could not be confirmed at the time of publication.

Chief returning officer for the WLUSU elections, Dani Saad, provided an overview of the rules for candidates, from items such as campaign spending and promotional materials, to demerit points for infractions.

โ€œI think weโ€™re at a point now where everyone, at least in a broad sense, understands their role and what theyโ€™re supposed to be doing and how to act, which is good, which is my job,โ€ said Saad.

The meeting went smoothly after a 35 minute delay at the onset due to the late arrival of candidates. All but oneโ€”who was determined to have legitimate reasons, according to Saadโ€”were present.

โ€œWeโ€™ll catch them up, make sure itโ€™s still an even playing field,โ€ he said. โ€œAnd make that clear to everyone here as well so they donโ€™t feel disadvantaged. Itโ€™s been dealt with fairly.โ€

All four presidential candidates, which includes Andres Melendez, Chandler Jolliffe, Justin Tabakian and Sam Lambert, were present.

โ€œIโ€™m excited. It feels like itโ€™s been a long time coming, so by the end you just get anxious for it to get going after so many months of prep work. Iโ€™m glad itโ€™s finally kicking off and we can actually get going,โ€ said Jolliffe.

Jolliffe expects that keeping the election focused on the key topics may be one of the challenges heโ€™ll face.

He continued, โ€œI think getting the elections really focused on core issues and factual issues is the biggest challenge. But that being said, I think itโ€™s a good one and I think we have a good enough candidate pool this year that the election will be very issues-focused.โ€

Melendez anticipates making the student body aware of his personal profile could be difficultโ€”but itโ€™s also what heโ€™s most excited about.

โ€œ[Iโ€™m most looking forward to] talking to students. Getting their perspective,โ€ he said.

โ€œBecause this is a democracy and in order to have an idea, to pitch something, you have to get everyoneโ€™s perspective, you know, because itโ€™s a school that has so many different people, so many people of different personalities, different backgrounds, different needs.โ€

None of the presidential candidates have previous experience with the WLUSU board of directors. Similarly, the vast majority of candidates for this yearโ€™s BOD are also lacking prior formal experience in the organization.

Matt McLean is one of three directors running for a second term.

โ€œWe made a lot of progress this year, had a great year. My hope is to keep that going next year, get the board a little bit more involved than it was this year and continue some of the issues, make sure those get carried over,โ€ he said.

McLean, a third-year political science and history student, said heโ€™ll be focusing on talking about the strategic plan to students during the campaign period.

Second-year student Rochelle Adamiak is new to Laurierโ€™s student politics and is aiming to bridge the gap between students and the board.

โ€œIโ€™m mainly focusing on transparency, so I really want communication between the board and the student population. Coming from being a first-year, now in my second-year, I also want more connection and communication just with Laurier in general,โ€ she explained.

All candidates can now begin campaigning and will be engaging with students through upcoming events like the open forum.

While the ground rules have been laid and none can plead ignorance, Saadโ€”who ran for WLUSU president last yearโ€”will be maintaining a dialogue with candidates and campaign teams throughout the election period.

โ€œAs a candidate I was a bit lost at the beginning, so I know how that feels to be overwhelmed, especially at the beginning and in this meeting. Itโ€™s a big room, so sometimes itโ€™s tough to ask questions,โ€ he said.

โ€œJust really making people feel comfortable enough to come to me with questions I think is the most important thing.โ€ Voting will take place on Feb. 5 and 6.

*Disclaimer: Dani Saad is the Opinion Editor at The Cord.ย 

 

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