The students’ union chief returning officer Michael Thorne has resigned after what Union President Mark Henick calls “several things that were raised over the last two elections.”
As chief returning officer, Thorne was responsible for managing all student union elections. Thorne oversaw the fall general and the VP administration by-election.
Henick said the union received complaints from students concerning election procedure. The human resources committee requested a meeting with Thorne to address the complaints, but Thorne opted instead to resign.
Complaints stemmed from a lack of candidate meetings during the by-election, a shortage of poll workers, the delay of the fall election, insufficient advertising of the election, and what Henick called “ballot issues.”
In his resignation letter to the union, Thorne said he did not receive the support he needed from the union.
“I find it unfortunate that the Student Union would choose to place the burden of systemic failings squarely at the feet of any one person,” he wrote. “The lack of training and glaring lack of support from the Student Union during elections has impacted past elections and will continue to have an impact well into the future unless change is implemented.”
Henick says the union accepts some responsibility for the election issues
“We realize too that there was probably insufficient training.”
The union is accepting resumes to fill the post.
