The Election Committee is an independent organization that is composed of the student body for the fair and smooth election process. Generally, the Election Committee is supposed to do three things; prepare for the public-hearing, oversee the confirmation of candidates’ qualification and manage social media.
During this year ́s election, problems arose in managing the election process. Originally, the students should have voted after the Public Hearing on Nov 18; however, the voting was postponed for a week due to some confusion during the application process. All announcements regarding the election were uploaded onto the GMUK group chat, but the submissions email was incorrect. This made it difficult to confirm all candidates in time, resulting in one candidate team being omitted.
Furthermore, the candidates couldn’t recognize the necessity of preparing for the pledges in the public hearing since there was no space to write candidates’ pledges. Student Affairs pointed out that the Election Committee missed the due date. By handing over the applications to student affairs late, the candidates could not help registering late. This resulted in inconvenience to the other student organization. Regarding these problems, one of the election committee members, Ilya Kim (Global Affairs, ‘23), stated that “there was a general lack of communication” within the Election Committee. Even though “each member of the election committee knew what they were signing up for,” there were difficulties in planning and organizing the election. Also, he felt that “there was not enough support coming from the Student Council leadership, in order to achieve the best possible results.”
If there is no standardized process for the election, it is difficult for the future committee members to work efficiently and the same mistakes will occur again. Therefore, standardized instructions for the Election Committee is needed. The students of Mason Korea should check and oversee the Election Committee. The election is a process of choosing leaders who represent students’ voices. Students should have a sense of ownership and get interested in the election process.
The role of the Election Committee is critical for the fair and smooth election. System reformation and a standardized process should be prepared for running the Election Committee in the future. The students of Mason Korea need to keep an eye on the work of the Election Committee carefully.
Written by Yuhyun Shin|Staff writer
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