The lack of students at college due to the strike, pushed the SA to extend online voting and postpone physical polls
The strike by college faculty is causing changes in all areas at George Brown College. With few students on campus some things have been postponed.
The Student Association of George Brown College (SA), which funds The Dialog, is in the midst of their fall byelections and have decided to postpone in-person voting until Nov. 13 and extend online polling until Nov. 17. The polling stations were originally slated to open on Monday, Oct. 30.
“We have really been struggling with how best to continue the election while there’s a reduced student population,” said Charles Wilson, the chief returning officer for the election.
To solve this, they decided to try a hybrid model. Online voting will start on Monday, Oct. 30 at 9 a.m. and continue until Friday, Nov. 17, while the polling stations at the campuses and the residence are currently scheduled to open from Nov. 13 to 17.
“We hope, and judging from experiences from other strikes, that the labour dispute would be over by then and we will be able to operate polling stations as usual,” said Wilson.
If the strike continues past that date, Wilson said they will have to look at other options. However, online voting will be available in any situation.
The events to inform the students about the election are also on hold. As soon as classes resume, election events will be announced through social media and the SA website.
“Hopefully we will provide that service to our students, so that they can make an informed decision,” said Wilson.
All full-time students at GBC that have paid the SA fee are eligible to vote. You can find more information on how to vote in the elections section of the SA website.
For the upcoming SA byelection, the director of operations and the arts, design and information technology representative positions are being contested.
Brenda Agyei and Kushagra Manchanda are running to be the SA’s director of operations.
Supitcha Thadi and Jeremy Worrall are the candidates for the arts, design and information technology representative.
A number of other positions on the SA’s board of directors were acclaimed.
