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LGoS ELECTION - ROUND-UP OF THE PAST WEEK

By James Cree ⋅ March 2, 2008 ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

Polls open tomorrow for this year’s Liverpool Guild elections. After a week of campaigning the hard work begins as candidates try to get as many of your first preference votes as possible. I’ve decided to look back at the past week of campaigning and see who the big winners and losers are and remind you that online voting is also available!

So which candidates have impressed me this week? Natasha Sleave performed very well in recent hustings. She clearly knew her stuff and my initial scepticism about her has changed. I think she’d make a very good officer. The ‘Get More with Four’ team of Liz, Joss, Rob and Chris have strong manifestos and all stand a good chance of getting elected with Chris hoping his recently found ‘epiphany’ that all students are seriously interested in the election process, will increase his chances. Liz Williams has continued to impress with a strong manifesto and an impressive hustings and remains my number one candidate. Knowing her personally some have accused me of using my position with LX News to gain her an unfair advantage and overlooking what other candidates have to offer. I totally reject this claim. Having taken a step back and looked at all candidates and what they have to offer, my opinion remains unchanged. I strongly believe she is the best candidate for President and I make no apologies for saying it.

Perhaps the most surprising factor last week was the weak performance of the once favourite candidate, Dannie Grufferty. Her hustings performance was a big disappointment; she was slow to answer many of the questions put to her and gave relatively weak answers. The last thing the Guild can afford is to have a weak President. Her values have also been questioned by many involved in the Guild. As a member of People and Planet, I’ve also been shocked by her extensive use of posters and flyers, which must be at least three times that of any other candidate.

A big change to the normal election procedures this year sees the introduction of online voting, meaning that students no longer have to go to a ballot box. Brought in to enable students who are out on placement or on a year abroad to vote, it has not been properly advertised, leaving many students essentially disenfranchised. So I appeal to all UoL students living away from Uni to download a form from lgos.org/election and make your vote count!

Voting takes place from 3rd until 7th March. The following sites are official polling stations:

The Base (10am – 5pm)
Harold Cohen Library (10am – 5pm)
Sydney Jones Library (10am – 5pm)
Sherrington Building (12 – 2pm)
Management School (12 – 2pm)
Carnatic Halls (4 – 7pm Tuesday)
Greenbank Halls (4 – 7pm Thursday)