The MUNSU General Election Polling has been postponed.
In a tweet issued on Monday, MUNSU announced:
“We are very disheartened to announce that we are making the decision to postpone the online webvote for the 2022-2023 MUNSU General Election as a result of errors and inconsistencies with the @MemorialU Banner system”.
Voting was set to occur from 9 am on March 14th, ending at 9 pm on March 15th.
Plans changed, however, when students started reporting issues in submitting their polls shortly after the webvote opened.
Komran Mackey reported the software was improperly considering one of the finance representatives as an advocacy representative.
The Muse live-tweeted about the situation:
Less than two hours later, the online webvote was postponed for the 2022-2023 MUNSU General Election, with no further word.
In the statement issues by MUNSU, Memorials banner system and COVID-19 difficulties were blamed- although one student believes the pandemic was used as a scapegoat excuse.
Candidate impact
While MUNSU is working hard to resolve the issues regarding the webvote, several candidates have voiced their frustration.
Bruce March states the situation was a surprise that caught him off guard.
“I was anticipating a normal election day. It’s definitely concerning when issues surrounding the vote arise and of course, that shakes trust in any electoral process. From my understanding the issue arose from problems with the banner system on the university’s end and MUNSU is doing all they can to handle this”.
Emily Dyer also says this situation has “definitely been frustrating since me, and a lot of other candidates have been working very hard during our campaign.” However, she is sympathetic to our student members, so many of them were excited to vote in this election. This delay has to be really frustrating for them in particular. However, it was unforeseen for the MUNSU staff, and they have been working really hard to resolve the issues. It sucks all around for everyone involved, and I hope it can get resolved soon”.
Turning Point for MUNSU?
Eva Redmond commented on the webvote situation: “While the issue is not the fault of MUNSU, as it’s an issue with MUNL’s system, it raises an interesting topic about MUNSU’s preparedness.”
MUNSU’s 2022-2023 election started on the wrong foot with an extended nomination period and has been described as “super hectic” by a student who prefers to remain anonymous.
Questions have been raised regarding the lack of backup plans. Why was the vote conducted when MUNL IT was on holiday?
Although MUNSU has been described as great with communicating by all candidates, the campaigning experience was primarily positive.
One candidate feels the elections policy needs a lot of revamping.
Eva Redmond states, “It needs to be more accessible and accommodating. The policy is too strict while at the same time not strict enough. The rules are vaguely written leaving a lot up to the CRO and candidates being fined due to improper information with regards to specific rules”.
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