The Associated Students of Portland State University Judicial and Constitutional Review Board is collecting applications for the Elections Committee for the upcoming student body elections. Election packets are available Feb. 24, and voting begins April 13.
The deadline to apply for a spot on the Elections Committee is Feb. 18. As of Feb. 16 the J-Board has received four applications, according to J-Board Chief Justice Nathan Claus.
The Elections Committee is made up of four students who will handle the organization and administrative side of the elections. The committee enforces the elections, deals with conflicts, publicizes the elections, recruits candidates and manages voting stations. The J-Board, which is in charge of the elections as a whole, recruits the members of the Elections Committee.
To apply, students must meet minimum GPA requirements and be enrolled in classes for spring term. Furthermore, they cannot be candidates in the upcoming elections.
Interested students may submit resumes and brief statements via email or through Orgsync, an application submitting website.
Individuals who meet the requirements will then go through an interviewing process with Claus and ASPSU Adviser Candace Avalos.
“In general, what we look [for are] people who have the ability to be impartial, and that requires a level of maturity and critical thinking skills and ability to investigate and have integrity,” Avalos said. “We want to look for people who are going to be dedicated because it is a big job and a lot of pressure. They need to be prepared to receive negative feedback sometimes. Also, they need a lot of energy to recruit, which is a big part of the committee.”
Claus said the J-Board is looking for a diverse set of students.
“We are looking for basic qualities such as students who are interested in setting up the elections, want to learn how to do the election process, and set up the elections for the ASPSU next year,” he said.
This year, the Elections Committee has new rules, requirements and responsibilities that students must follow.
“Last year was the first year that we didn’t have a separate Elections Committee, and it just created a lot of problems,” Avalos said. “This year we’re switching back. This is going to create a lot of us setting some new precedent and implementing standards.”
The J-Board encourages students to join the Elections Committee for various reasons. Both Claus and Avalos expressed similar benefits such as being able to navigate complexity, interacting with policies and student advocacy, learning to deal with pressure and learning to be consistent.
“It is a hard position, and dealing with conflict helps toughen you up,” Avalos said. “It will give you the opportunity to interact with policy and interpretation of that and how to enforce things and how to balance between enforcing rules and being flexible.”
“It is really great for students to be able to navigate the complexity of the university system, learning to interact with people coming from different perspectives, and making decisions with integrity in a short amount of time with all eyes on you,” Avalos said.
Students chosen to serve on the Elections Committee will undergo training before ASPSU campaigns begin.
“I think it is going to be a fun assignment because they get to work within the elections, so they can have their fun making sure everything is running smoothly and [helping to] plan some of the programming such as debates, candidate forums, et cetera,” Claus said.
