Locations and campaign strategies among reasons for election success

Cecily Van Horn
In Focus Reporter

The Humber Students’ Federation could benefit from campaign strategies used by the Sheridan Student Union to get greater participation in student elections.

“We’ve got one of the best campaigns and we believe that a smart strategy is the best way,” said Chris Ali, Sheridan’s student government president.

“We had 17 per cent of our population vote last year,” he said. “Most other schools struggle to hit the double-digit mark.”

That rate is more than double the percentage of voters that were recorded at Humber’s elections last year.

“We had 6.7 per cent, which is just above Ontario’s average rate,” said HSF president Nick Farnell.  

Sheridan and Humber are members of the Canadian Student Association, one of two national boards of student governments. The Canadian Federation of Students is the other. Both colleges also have three campuses.

Sheridan has two campuses in Oakville and one in Brampton and has a student population of 15,000 full-time students.

Ali said Sheridan strives to create a positive and enthusiastic atmosphere for its students during the election period. The nomination process runs from Feb. 5-20, and campaigning is from Feb. 21 to March 10. 

“We connect well with our students and have a high turnout rate because of the demographics,” said Rosana Filipe, vice-president of Sheraton’s Davis Campus in Brampton.

These demographics include where Sheridan is located and that  it is not considered a commuter school.
“Some strategies such as posters, debates, speeches and more are a large contributor to the positive and successful outcomes of Sheridan’s students’ union,” said Filipe.

“We have a craft design team that works around the clock to create posters and ads for the campaigns,” said Ali.
“We use paper ballots as opposed to electronic ones,” he said. “It helps to create a better voting atmosphere.”

Ercole Perrone, executive director of HSF, said they will use electronic ballots set up through the SRS accounts.
Ali said that informing students where the money is being spent is important to Sheridan’s student government.
“Fees are $55 per semester for a grand total of $110,” said Ali.

“The budget is delivered and printed in our school paper and we have copies available to students in our offices and it is presented yearly at the annual general meeting,” he said.

The election for Sheridan’s upcoming academic year is scheduled for March 11-12.

“We are excited to see the positive outcome of our hard work and we hope for good results when it comes time for the students to vote,” said Filipe.