With voting closing at 3pm today, candidates for the positions within the Students’ Union are out in force to encourage as many students to cast their votes in the Student Leader Elections.
Last year saw a record turnout in voting at 35.7%, and all candidates hope to come as near to, or exceed, this record today. Despite campus being quiet, past elections indicate that the last day of campaigning always draws out the most votes from apathetic students.
At 9am today, voter turnout was sat at 30.1%, with 9989 students having cast their votes. This compares with 18.1% on Wednesday, a significant rise in those students having used their vote. At 9:50am the Students’ Union Twitter account posted:
Campaigners were out early this morning today hoping for a final push in student turnout and to win some last minute votes from students still yet to cast their vote.
Angharad Smith, campaigning for the position of President, was out with her team. She told Impact: “It has been enjoyable campaigning. I am hopeful that I have done enough in order to be announced for the position of President at tonight’s results”.
There were lots of campaigners outside the Science buildings, and many students seemed engaged with the campaigners who stood around urging them to make a change by voting. It would appear that the candidates took heed of last year’s feedback that there were few people campaigning outside the science buildings. That area is a hot-spot for candidates exploiting the hustle-and-bustle of students going to and from lectures.
After the week of intense campaigning, the general consensus was that the week had been exhausting, but all candidates are excited, albeit slightly nervous, about the results released tonight.
One candidate told Impact: “The campaigning has been exhausting. Not physically necessarily, but mentally. Having to constantly regurgitate your manifesto points and encourage students can get quite tedious, and I’m only going for a part-time officer. Nonetheless, hopefully it will all pay off”.
Jonathan McAllister
Images: Jonathan McAllister
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