Thompson hopes recommendations will improve elections
The student union’s chief returning officer has released a 39-page post-election report, and in it made 17 recommendations he hopes will improve the STUSU electoral process.
Sean Thompson applied for the position as CRO after miscommunications during the fall by-election for vice-president academic forced Michael Thorne, to resign from the job.
Thompson understood what he was getting into when he accepted the job.
“I kind of got it into my head [that] I can do a better job,” he said.
His report gives an overview of his experience during the election process, including minor setbacks he faced as CRO, along with his 17 recommendations.
Thompson wanted to leave behind a paper trail for the next CRO.
“It’s important to have it down on paper just to get rid of some of the confusion and leave it less to the discretion of the Chief Returning Officer,” he said. “It allows for more consistency in the process I think.”
After the recent February elections, Thompson saw that the CRO has too many responsibilities.
“We had speeches on the Monday and then voting days on the Wednesday and Thursday,” he explained, “and a lot of prep work the two days before that. I didn’t really get any school work done at all and it probably hurt me a bit on one [test].”
Thompson said that during the three weeks of nominations, campaigning and elections, he worked double the hours he was paid.
Some of the tasks of the CRO include announcing the election period, monitoring the candidates’ speeches, assuring all campaigning items – including social networking websites – are taken down before the election days, printing and cutting over 5,000 ballots, and assuring every polling station runs smoothly.
Thompson said many of the bylaws for the election process were not only confusing for him as CRO, but also for the candidates.
There was confusion about where candidates could put their posters, Mary-Dan Johnston’s name was spelled wrong on the ballots for the first hour of the election period, and certain candidates had difficulty closing down their campaign groups on Facebook.
One of Thompson’s recommendations is for the Students’ Union to create a position for Deputy Returning Officer (DRO).
The DRO would work alongside the CRO and help with any of his/her duties.
The DRO would also step in as chief whenever the CRO wasn’t available.
Despite certain obvious changes, Thompson said both the general election and the presidential run-off election were a success.
He said the entire team did a “spectacular job.”
A full list of the recommendations handed down by Thompson can be found below:
1. In future, the SRC ensure that the referendum questions they approve are as fair and as balanced as possible.
2. First year students wishing to run in STUSU elections be explicitly exempted from the requirement of a minimum grade point average in the previous academic year.
3. Members of the STUSU shall be allowed to appeal referendum results using the Appellate Board Act.
4. The CRO shall invite a representative from Facilities Management to the Candidate’s Meeting to explain their poster policy.
5. a) Posters should not placed on or around the Help Desk, its window, or its door.
b) The Help Desk Bulletin Board should be exempted from Recommendation 5a).6. The STUSU adopt the following rules governing campaigning via Facebook or similar social networks:
a) Candidates may create Facebook groups.
b) Candidates may not send Facebook messages via their Facebook group.
c) The CRO must be a member and administrator of all Facebook groups but are not allowed to post or to modify or remove any posts on a group during the campaign period.
d) Candidates’ Facebook groups are considered campaign material and are bound to all provisions regarding campaign material under the Elections and Referenda Act. Candidates should remove any comment posted on their Facebook group’s wall which contravene such provisions within 24 hours of their posting. Candidates will be held responsible for any such comments 24 hours after their posting.
e) No candidate may purchase any form of Facebook advertising.
f) Candidates may not create Facebook events or fan pages.
g) Candidates must delete their group at the end of the campaign period. If a candidate is unable to delete their group due to a problem on Facebook’s end, they must remove all campaign material from their group by the end of the period and delete the group itself at the earliest opportunity. Failure to do so may result in discipline.7. The STUSU adopt the following rules regarding other Internet campaigning:
a) Candidates must register all websites, including blogs but excluding Facebook groups, with the CRO.
b) Any online video advertisement for a candidate must be removed by the end of the campaign period.
c) Candidates inform the CRO if they intend to use Twitter during the campaign.8. The STUSU and future CRO’s must continually monitor the bylaws and adjust them as new technologies emerge.
9. a) The STUSU create the position of Deputy Returning Officer (DRO).
b) The DRO shall be hired by the Human Resources Committee in consultation with the CRO.
c) The DRO shall help the CRO execute his or her duties and may exercise all the powers and authority of the CRO in executing those duties.
d) Notwithstanding anything in Recommendation 9c), the DRO shall not have the power to create temporary election rules, render decisions regarding situations not in the bylaws, accept or reject nominations, discipline candidates, or render judgment on complaints.
d) The DRO shall be paid for a minimum of ten (10) hours of work a week for the duration of the campaign.10. The CRO’s pay be increased, effective from the 2010-2011 academic year.
11. The Brian Mulroney Hall polling station be abolished and its constituencies dispersed to the appropriate residence and Off-Campus stations.
12. The Off-Campus Committee investigate the reasons for low voter turnout in the Off-Campus constituency and use the conclusions from this investigation to try and increase voter turnout from that constituency.
13. Off-Campus representatives must live off-campus during the academic year of their term in office.
14. Three Off-Campus representatives should be elected in the Fall Elections and two Off-Campus representatives should be elected in the Winter Elections.
15. A recount shall be ordered automatically in any race where the margin between the two leading candidates (or, in races that elect multiple candidates, the final elected position) is one per cent or less of the ballots cast in that race.
16. It shall be mandatory for the Chief Returning Officer to publicly read the vote counts after they have concluded.
17. March Break shall not be considered as business days for the purpose of the STUSU Constitution, Bylaws, or any other STUSU business.
