The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) at Stony Brook University set the dates and timeline for student government elections for the upcoming fall semester.
Candidacy forms for the USG senate and executive council will be confirmed on Aug. 1. If students didn’t join the candidate pool this past semester before March 22, they won’t be able to enter the election.
“Since the elections that will be taking place in the fall were originally scheduled for the Spring 2020 semester, we came to the conclusion that there would be no further info sessions and no other students would be allowed to join the candidate pool for the upcoming election,” Muhammad Tanveer, chair of the Elections Board, said.
Candidates need to submit intent forms, party platforms, a roster of campaign staff and a platform statement summarizing their goals for office to the Elections Board by Aug. 16.
Since student government elections must be completed by Sept. 20, students will be able to start campaigning before classes begin on Aug. 24. Online campaigning will begin on Aug. 17, once all of the forms are in. After this date, candidates will be able to promote themselves and their parties to the overall student body.
“Due to this small time frame, the Elections Board has allowed candidates to begin campaigning through any social media the week before classes begin,” Tanveer said.
Student governments should give candidates enough time for rigorous electoral campaigns and balloting, SUNY Student Assembly President, Austin Ostro, said in a March 26 memo from.
The petitioning process, which requires candidates to collect student signatures, begins on Aug. 24 and ends on Sept. 6.
Polling will open on Sept. 7 and close Sept. 11, giving students five days to cast their votes on SB Engaged. If two candidates tie, a runoff election period will run from Sept. 14 through 18.
