Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) has passed a motion for the Education Officer to produce a report on class rep elections. The report will include a full review of the election process as well as recommendations on improvements.
The motion arose out of a discussion at SU Council, after the discussion about the election process for class representatives. During the Council, MacPherson stated that the Union “are always looking at the issue of student engagement”. She noted that class rep engagement reports are “out of date” and welcomed any suggestions on how to make the process more democratic.
Future TCDSU Educations Officers are now mandated to produce a report on the yearly elections at the Second TCDSU Council of the year.
When voting closed for the elections earlier this month, 172 class did not elect a class representative. Questions were raised over the ratio to students and class representatives, the timing of the elections, voting places and how students on placement can vote. Issues were raised in relation to Junior Freshman elections and the lack of information surrounding them.
MacPherson spoke about the possibility of an online voting system for future elections. She stated that Google Forms was “not as secure as I would like”. This format had previously been used to facilitate online voting for students unable to present on campus during elections, such as those on Erasmus or exchange programs. MacPherson expressed her hopes that TCDSU could continue to explore further options for online voting in the future.
Additional reporting by Rory O’Neill and Sarah Meehan.
