The Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) held its spring elections from Tuesday, March 24 to Thursday, March 26.
Athena Pimentel was elected as Interurban executive, and Riley Lam as Lansdowne executive.
Terence Baluyut was elected as finance executive, Mia Purnell as wellness and access director, Aarisca Sharma as sustainability director, and Madison Huynh as women’s director.
Juan Samaniego was elected as pride director, Jeremy Frederickson as Indigenous director, Aleah Ann Peterson as a Lansdowne director at large, Nyleah Sigouin as an Interurban director at large, and Angela Chou as off-campus director.
All of these positions have been ratified.
This year, 751 Camosun students voted in the spring elections, compared to 670 students last year. Despite the increase in the number of voters, this turnout is below what the CCSS anticipated. Baluyut—who is the outgoing external executive—says that this is a problem for many student unions, not just the CCSS.
“We always try to aim for more than 10 percent [of Camosun students voting]… Many student unions actually experience the same thing as well,” says Baluyut. “If you go to other student unions, it could go up to 14 percent, but it’s very hard to engage with students sometimes, especially in our setting at Camosun College, where people aren’t that involved in campus life.”
In the weeks leading up to the spring elections, the CCSS put up posters around Camosun’s campuses and set up tables during Campus Life Days to inform students on the upcoming election in hopes to increase engagement and voter turnout. Additionally, there were posts on the CCSS Instagram page and website about the spring elections.
“Yeah, it’s been difficult to get turnout for this kind of thing,” says Baluyut. “We’ve done social-media promotions and some in-person marketing. During our Campus Days, we’ve been announcing the upcoming elections as well as putting up posters around campus. I think moving forward, one thing we could improve on is organizing a better AGM. For the last few years, ever since I joined the student society, I’ve noticed that the AGMs we organize are mostly online virtual meetings, which helps us reach quorum and be able to call a meeting. At the same time, if we want to ensure better engagement and participation in elections, we should create an event where people can actively participate and be more informed about what’s happening at the AGM, including what we’re voting on beyond just the candidates.”
Baluyut says that there are a few reasons why students aren’t engaged in campus life, and says that the CCSS is trying to address that to connect with as many students as possible.
“I think that reflects the reality for students right now,” he says. “Students are very busy. Apart from being students, many are also working, supporting their families, and managing other responsibilities and commitments. It can be hard to engage in extracurricular commitments because of that. That’s where we, as a student society, need to step up more. We have to meet students where they are and find interactive and creative ways to increase engagement from our members.”
Baluyut says that voting in post-secondary student society elections is important because these organizations make decisions that directly affect how student fees are spent, what services and events are offered, and how student issues are represented.
“Something I’ve realized: the closer the government is, the lower the voter turnout tends to be,” says Baluyut. “For instance, federal elections usually get the highest turnout, then it goes down at the provincial level, then municipal, and then even smaller for things like student societies. But I think what people should acknowledge is that the closer the governance is, the more it directly affects your daily life. People should recognize that and understand the importance of their vote, because it can make a real difference in their everyday lives. Now that we’ve wrapped up the student society elections, I hope it’s something people take note of moving forward. For example, we’ll be having municipal elections soon, and people should be reminded of the power of their vote. People fought for that right in our history, and it’s something we should take advantage of today.”
Since the elections, the CCSS put out a call for nominations for remaining open board positions. The nomination period closed on Wednesday, May 6; on Monday, May 11, the board will vote to appoint new members. See camosunstudent.org for more information.