The OUSU run elections for divisional board representatives have been hit by a series of administrative errors, as well as a perceived lack of publicity and expected low turnout.
The elections, which in previous years have taken place at OUSU council rather than in a general vote, were due to conclude on Thursday. However, technical errors forced the delay of the MPLS (maths, physical and life sciences) representative elections, which was closely followed by a general postponement.
Beth Hanson-Jones, returning officer for the election, described the cause of delay as “an admin error [which] was out of our control”. She commented, “On consultation with the candidates, we have decided to extend election time to try and rectify any effects.”
This error comes in the wake of criticism that OUSU has not made sufficient attempts to publicise the elections. Mirela Ivanova, the sole candidate for the humanities representative position, told Cherwell, “It’s definitely not a well enough publicised position”, but that the “problem is that with an age of over saturation of information, most people discard the hundredth email in their inbox.”
Likewise, MPLS candidate Syed Ali Asad Rizvi said “I believe there is not enough awareness among students about the roles of divisional board reps.” However, he praised the “effective” work that OUSU have done to publicise these elections.
In an independent poll of 100 students undertaken by Cherwell on 30th May, only 11% said they were aware of the ongoing elections, whilst only 5% said that they had voted. Full election results are expected late on Friday night.
OUSU President David J Townsend told Cherwell that the decision to conduct a general vote “is right from a democratic point of view”, noting, “this is the first year of direct election, and the change to direct election was made relatively late in the day. There hasn’t been as much publicity as there will be in future years.”
Responding to speculation about the possibility of low turnout in the election, Townsend accepted that the brevity of the publicity campaign, “may well have an effect on turnout, but one thing I can say for sure: the turnout’s going to be a whole lot higher than the number of students who would get to vote for them if they were still just elected in OUSU Council as in previous years.”
