CASA presidential candidate Marianna Luciano will run unopposed in next week’s elections, but according to chief returning officer Stephanie Laurin, applications for many positions have gone up. “I would say actually say they’re higher than the last couple of years,” she said. “There are a lot of positions that are running opposed, whereas last year for the CASA executives, if you want to take that as an example, all positions except for one actually ran unopposed.”
Luciano is the outgoing president of the John Molson Marketing Association, one of seven subsidiary associations that fall under the JMSB umbrella that are also set to elect new presidents in next week’s elections. In the likely event that she is elected, Luciano aims to improve awareness about CASA: “[If we] go about it the right way we can really make a difference and make students know that CASA is there for them,” she said, “to help them, whether it’s now or when they graduate, in terms of finding jobs, learning how to find a job, networking, meeting other people, and just making their overall university experience a lot better.” She also encouraged students “to get involved, whether it’s to run for a position or just to get involved in the activities and events that we plan and the things that we can do such as the external conference program and the business banquet.”
With the exception of VP External, all other CASA executive positions will be contested. There will be no competition for any of the subsidiary presidential positions, however. In the case that a candidate is unopposed, CASA’s elections policy dictates “the candidate cannot be acclaimed to the position,” and must be voted in by majority by the Board of Directors.
Quorum is set at 2.5 per cent, a threshold Laurin does not foresee any problems reaching. For CASA, that represents a voter turnout of 180 students for an undergraduate body of approximately 7,200. “The campaign itself is extremely well marketed within the university,” she said. “I ran the byelections as well earlier this year and students take such a huge interest now. I don’t know what it’s been like in the past but I feel like there’s a huge interest in deciding who’s going to represent the student body.”
In CASA candidates run independently. To be nominated, they have to collect 50 signatures from the student body they are seeking to represent. Yesterday marked the beginning of the week-long campaign process. All CASA-JMSB students will have the opportunity to vote from Feb. 14 to 17 in the lobby of the Molson building.
