The AMS is running faculty student senator elections again this year, but candidates say the process has been confusing.
These faculty-specific student senator elections were conducted by AMS constituencies prior to 2021, but were handed over to the university last year due to issues with voting. The AMS has now resumed oversight through its Elections Committee, but candidates feel that there was a lack of preparedness from the Elections Committee about how to reintegrate these elections back into their its system.
“I feel neglected as a candidate, not gonna lie,” Emmanuel Cantiller said. Cantiller is the only candidate running for a second term as the faculty of arts representative.
He said that confusing deadlines for nominations, volunteers and expense reports has impacted his ability to plan for his campaign.
“Faculty senators are left in the dark,” Cantiller said. “Compared to last year, it’s really disorganized.”
Bach Nguyen, a first-time candidate for the faculty of medicine, experienced similar confusion. He said that the candidates were given incorrect dates initially at the All-Candidates Meeting, and that a verbal correction had to be issued.
He also reiterated the frustration candidates have that they have been given little time to prepare and submit candidate bios and volunteer lists.
“What if someone wants to join a campaign to volunteer after that deadline? How does that work?” Nguyen questioned.
The AMS Elections Committee said that the dates for the faculty-specific student senator elections are still being finalized. The timeline the AMS would typically use in an election like this has been hindered by several empty races that the Elections Committee is looking to fill.
Currently, there are no candidates for dentistry, education or science. There's only one candidate for two grad student rep positions.
“We don’t really know why this happened,” Varsha Gangadharan, chief returning officer for AMS Elections, said. “We did not expect the empty positions for Senate. So we’re just really working hard to make sure we fill these seats.”
The Elections Committee said that more concrete deadlines should be available to candidates by next week.
Cantiller said he wished that the AMS Elections Committee had taken more time to prepare to hold these elections once again. “The transition right now is very messy.”
Even though there has been confusion this year, candidates are hoping that placing these elections back under the AMS will provide an opportunity to spread the word about the faculty senate race.
Tony Jiang, running for a second term as the representative for the forestry faculty, believes this is a chance for the AMS to work on promoting these elections.
“I don't think many people know about these positions. So I feel like they have to do something better to promote these opportunities.”