By now, students have probably seen election signs plastered all over campus, meaning election season is in high gear at Algonquin.
The Algonquin College Students’ Association held their annual general meeting on March 5. One of the main items on the agenda was announcing the candidates for the Board of Directors for the term May 1, 2015 to April 30, 2016.
The nine candidates are: Charlene Dygos, Egor Evseev, Rami Farhat, Sara Grainger, Alexandra Grant, Tomas Kolafa, Chris Kolberg, Elizabeth Montgomery and Amy Winterburn.
The nomination period started on Dec. 1 and ended on Jan. 16.
The nine candidates were picked from a list of 26 nominees. Four members of the SA Board of Directors – Christina Miller, Steven Gutknecht, Arvindkumar Chavda and Mackenzie Campbell – chose the candidates.
Students will choose the president and vice-president of the SA from the list of nine candidates.
There is a vetting process to ensure that the best candidates are presented to students. Successful nominees must have paid the appropriate fees, they must be over 18 years-of-age and have a GPA of at least 2.5 – among other requirements.
“We don’t want it to be a popularity contest,” said Christina Miller, the current president of the Students’ Association.
Miller thought about running again, but decided against the idea. “I just simply don’t have the time,” she said.
Each candidate is eligible for up to $2,000 of funding from the Students’ Association to create promotional material for the election.
Campaigning began March 5 and ends on March 22 at midnight.
Students will then have the chance to vote on the candidates from March 23-27.
According to the SA website, the board prides itself on being “the best voice (students) have to reach the higher echelons of the college administration.”
Students are encouraged to get to know each candidate and to cast a vote during election week.