This Spring term we are holding the elections for all the Engineering Society Executive positions and WEEF director. This blog post will go over the election process, how to nominate yourself as a candidate, and how to prepare. This will hopefully help those running who may not have been on campus for an election yet or have not been as involved get more informed. If there are any questions after reading this please send me an e-mail at president.a@engsoc.uwaterloo.ca !
Tentative Timeline for Spring 2015
Nominations: May 18-22
All candidates meeting: May 22
Campaigning: May 27-June 3
Voting: June 4-8
Elections results announced:JUne 11
Positions available and overview of eligibility
(Bonus: For position descriptions see here)
(Double bonus: For more detailed eligibility requirements see governing docs here)
All positons:
-Be in “good standing in your program”
-Be “on term” for Winter 2016 and Fall 2016 or run in a pair where at least one member of the pair is “off-term” for one of the terms
President: At least 3A in Winter 2016
VP External: At least 2B in Winter 2016
VP Education: At least 2B in Winter 2016
VP Internal: At least 2A in Winter 2016
VP Finance: At least 2A in Winter 2016
**If you are unsure of your eligibility or have more specific questions please e-mail the Chief Returning Officer (CRO) Soheil at cro.a@engsoc.uwaterloo.ca
Nomination Process
At the start of the nomination process there will be nomination forms available in the EngSoc office and on the website. Each candidate must collect 15 signatures from on-term EngSoc members on their nomination form. A completed form needs to be submitted to the CRO before the end of the nomination period in order to be eligible. All nominations are confidential until the end of the nomination period.
All Candidates Meeting
On the last day of nominations the CRO will call an all candidates meeting. This meeting is mandatory for all candidates and is where the CRO will explain all of the rules of the election and campaign period.
Campaign
During the campaign period each candidate will have the opportunity to attend class visits, participate in an open forum/debate, publish an IW article, and campaign in any other manner they would like in accordance with the CRO’s guidelines. In the past candidates have made posters, websites, facebook pages, buttons, or any combination of the above. Campaigns are not limited to these items so you can be creative with how you campaign. (Please note no stickers are permitted.)
While preparing campaign material before the term will help you prepare for the election remember that all materials must be approved by the CRO and must follow the guidelines set out at the all candidates meeting.
Voting
Voting happens in the same manner as the referendum in the Fall term. Each student is e-mailed an individual voting link and all the voting happens anonymously online. All active campaign stops during the voting period unless otherwise approved by the CRO.
The Society uses a ranked ballot for voting which means for each position voters have the opportunity to rank each candidate and rank “No candidate” in their order of preference. These ranks then factor into determining the winner.
Results Announcement
At the end of the election the candidates will find out the results before they are released to the student body. Only the names of the winning candidates are released and no numbers or percentages are made public except for the total voter turnout.
Resources
While you are preparing for the election if you have any questions regarding campaigning policies or logistics the CRO Soheil is here to answer your questions. His e-mail is cro.a@engsoc.uwaterloo.ca If you have any questions about workload, portfolios, being an Exec or anything position related all of the current exec would be more than happy to answer your questions. You can find our contact info here:Executive
I hope you found this helpful and this didn’t scare too many people of. If you haven’t had a chance yet check out my other blog post about why you should consider running!
Thanks and see you at the polls!
Leila Meema-Coleman
President A-Society
president.a@engsoc.uwaterloo.ca