Only 1537 students have voted in this year’s Students’ Union elections.
The figure is down substantially on last year, when 2059 students cast their ballot to elect our four sabbatical officers.
First-year students were the most engaged in this year’s elections, with over a third of the votes coming from this category.
Unsurprisingly, the political and media societies were amongst those with the highest turnouts. Almost 90% of the Scottish Nationalist Association, which VP Communities incumbent Jamie Grant is linked with, turned out to vote.
The politics society, with 60 members, is one of the largest societies in the university. Forty-eight of them voted, which could sway the election results either way, given that many are saying that this year’s elections are too close to call.
Forty-four of Air3’s 59 members voted, which should be music to VP Education candidate Daniel Wright’s ears, who is treasurer of the society.
Amongst sports clubs, Caitlin Ormiston’s cricket team was the only one to produce a 100% turnout, with all 14 members voting. Almost three quarters of Ellie West’s 110-strong netball club turned out to vote.
The results will be announced at 7pm in Venue, but for those elected, it will be important for them to work hard over the next year to ensure that voter turnout increases, and actively engage students in the election process to secure a better mandate.
Fourth-year BA (Hons) Journalism Studies student.
News Editor, Sports Editor and Head of Proofreading for Brig Newspaper.
