It’s unofficial, but the race is on.
Nominations for most elected Students’ Union positions closed on Wed., Feb. 10, which means students will be inundated with campaign materials over the next two weeks. Part of this campaign process involves public forums for candidates which will take place on the following dates: the Presidential forum at 12:30 p.m. on Thurs., Feb. 18 at Speaker’s Corner in MacEwan Hall; Vice-presidential Academic/Commission and VP External/Commission at noon on Mon., Feb. 22 in the South Courtyard of MacEwan Students’ Centre; and the vp Events/Commission and the vp Operations and Finance/Commission at noon on Tues., Feb. 23 in the South Courtyard of MSC.
"There will be questions coming from the current executive, and the candidates will just be expected to answer them to the best of their ability," said Student Life Commissioner and Election Promotion Committee student rep Mike Illnycky.
The All-candidates’ meeting is on Fri., Feb. 12 at 4 p.m., at which time Chief Returning Officer Patti Teeuwen will also give a brief orientation to the candidates.
Currently, Teeuwen is prepping for the election.
"We have to hire Deputy Returning Officers to work polling stations, and we’re encouraging them to stay on as ballot counters. We will also be hiring ballot counters specifically," said Teeuwen.
The race is still on for those students still interested in holding elected positions. At publication time, positions were still open for the External Commission as well as Students Academic Assembly representatives for the Faculties of Education, Science, Social Work, General Studies, Management, Humanities and Kinesiology. Nominations will remain open from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Thurs., Feb. 11 and, pending vacancies, the same times on Friday, after which nominations will become official.
Voting occurs from Wed., Feb. 24 to Fri., Feb. 26.