Potential directors begin gathering vote support

By Alex Wagstaff

wags0004@algonquincollege.com

Students hoping to make an impact in the Algonquin community have begun the long selection process toward being chosen as one of the next Students’ Association directors.

Potential applicants filed their nomination packages, which included a petition of 50 student signatures.

The nominations are only the beginning of the long process of choosing the nine directors who will sit on the board for the next year.

From Jan. 23 to Feb. 13, the current Board of Directors will interview the nominees and pick nine to endorse. Jonathan Palermo, current director and primary electoral officer, describes the interview process as a way for the selection committee to endorse the pre-eminent candidates.

“From those interviews, we select the nine applicants that are the best,” says Palermo. “We put forward to the members of the student body that we believe these nine members are qualified to take on the role.”

The board then holds a meeting on Mar. 5 to elect the new directors. The annual and special general meeting is mostly seen as a formality to confirm the endorsements of the board, but there is still an opportunity for new candidates to pop up. As long as a student hands in a petition of 200 signatures in advance of the meeting, they can still run for a director position.

Potential directors typically bring friends to the meeting to vote for them, thereby confirming their support within the student body.

“We recommend 200 proxy votes, just to make it a good number, a good body of the students,” says Palermo. “It just gives it a bit more confidence in the student body knowing that there’s a lot more students than however many at the table saying that this candidate would be a good director.”

Once the directors are elected, candidates for the positions of president, vice-president, and secretary are called for. If there is only one candidate for a role, then the appointment is automatic. If there is competition for any of the positions, a general election will be called.

Campaigning would then begin the day after the meeting, and run for two weeks. The election would then run for a full week until the results are announced in the Observatory at 3 p.m. on Mar. 27.

With a new Board of Directors, secretary, vice-president and president chosen, the SA will begin their changeover on a weekend at the end of March.

Palermo sees the changeover as an important part of getting the new directors ready for the job.

“It’s kind of a bonding experience where we give them the torch,” Palermo says.