Every year students come up with excuses to avoid voting in the Student Elections, ‘I’m too busy’, ‘I don’t know who to vote for’ and the absolute worst one, ‘it doesn’t matter’.
Here’s the truth: Your vote does matter - probably more than you think, and here’s some reasons why:
- They are YOUR chance to allow your voice to be heard on campus
- You can vote on the issues that YOU care about
- Helps to improve student life and identify issues on campus
- Allows you the choice to choose who you want to represent the student body
So, what do student leaders do?
There are lots of different student leadership roles that cover various aspects of student life, from a sports officer to an education officer, these people work to make the university a better place for all students.
Student officers do several different things to support students including:
- Planning student events and campaigns
- Representing the student voice when meeting with the university
- Addressing issues raised by students
Student officers work to make your university experience the best it can be, and loads of events and initiatives are due to their hard work.
Spaces including Cove and events like Varsity are vital to student life, and are only made possible because elected student officers work tirelessly to advocate and plan for these events!
Who do I vote for?
So now you know why voting is important and what student officers do, you may be wondering ... who do I vote for?
Here are a few things to remember when going to cast your vote.
Candidates will be all over campus campaigning on why you should vote for them, so use this as an opportunity to get to know more about them and what they are offering to do if they are elected!
If you don’t see anyone campaigning in person (which I highly doubt will happen) you can always check the Elections page on the SU website to check out each manifesto.
Remember to vote for the candidates you want to elect. Don’t feel obligated to vote for them just because they are offering you sweets ...
How to vote
Voting opens on the 10th of March at 09:00 and closes on the 13th of March at 13:00 which gives you 3 days and 4 hours to get your votes in peeps!
It's done using the alternative or transferable voting system.
So, whether you decide to vote from your bed after a heavy GWA night or in your seminar you wish you had skipped, you have no excuse not to vote :)
There are 24,000 students eligible to vote, but get this - last year only around 4,000 voted.
This makes each vote a lot more valuable - meaning that your vote has enough weight to change the election results.
Whether you decide to vote on who had the funniest TikTok or the silliest campaign it is still worth having your say!
So remember:
- Voting opens on 10th March at 9am
- Voting closes on 13th March at 1pm
- You can vote online
- Your vote matters!
Now you know all there is to know about the Student Elections ... Let the games begin!
