Students running for ASW positions for the 2020-21 school year began campaigning this week, after the final deadline to submit intent was Monday at noon.
There are a total of seven students running for ASW positions for the 2020-21 academic year. Before choosing to run — and throughout the campaigning process — students must follow the rules and guidelines laid out by the Judicial branch.
Students began campaigning for their positions Monday. Candidates can run on a platform using posters, t-shirts, stickers, etc. to campaign across campus.
Candidates must meet certain qualifications before choosing to run and must follow guidelines throughout the campaign process.
Qualifications to run
Before choosing to run, student candidates must meet certain requirements — fulfilling ASW Office qualifications and completing a candidate checklist.
There are three main qualifications students must meet before running for office: maintain a 3.0 GPA, be enrolled in at least six undergraduate or three graduate credit hours at Westminster College and be in good standing with the college.
Those running for ASW Senate must also meet two other qualifications: declare a major or have an intended major in one of the academic schools and have no declared major if running for an undeclared candidate.
Students must fulfill candidacy checklist while running
Before declaring candidacy, students must meet requirements on a candidate checklist before the deadline. For this election cycle, the deadline was set for Monday at noon.
Items to complete include: attending a candidate meeting, completing a declaration of candidacy to turn into the Dean of Students Office and pay a $25 deposit along with their declaration.
Candidates must also turn in an Intent to Receive Funding which they can use for their campaign while sending the Chief Justice the preferred name and photo to appear on student ballots.
Intended candidates must also take an ASW Constitution test and pass with a minimum score of 75%.
If the student is running for ASW president, they must have an in-person with the Dean of Students.
Rules regarding campaign materials
Candidates must send all intended campaign materials to the chief justice for approval before distributing across campus. Materials must be sent 24 hours in advance.
Posters that are intended for campaigning must also be approved by the Dean of Students Office after being approved by the elections committee.
There are places on campus that candidates can’t post. These include the Giovale Library, certain classrooms, bathrooms and residence halls. However, there are different posting rules for each building on campus.
Campaign materials cannot be posted on “black surfaced walls, glass, windows, tables, photographs, painting, floors, marble or wallpapered walls, wood doors, trees or hung from ceilings,” according to the ASW Elections Guidelines.
All materials must be taken down and removed by 10 p.m. Friday after voting has concluded, or candidates will lose their $25 campaign deposit.
Rules against candidate relations
No candidates can run on a joint-ticket, campaigning as a team or party. In addition to that, no team or party names can appear on campaign materials, social media or on ballots.
A single candidate cannot feature or mention another candidate that is running on any campaign materials or social media accounts — regardless of the position.
Candidates can only endorse other candidates by word of mouth.
If candidates notice misconduct according to the rules and guidelines, they must send a formal complaint to the judicial committee.
Rules against soliciting
If a candidate chooses to table in Shaw, they must get approval by the Dean of Students in advance. They must also completely clean up once they are finished.
Candidates can’t approach students to solicit votes, and they cannot bribe students by giving them items in exchange for their vote.
Campaigning in classrooms is highly discouraged. This means candidates, other students and professors can’t endorse candidates or campaign during class time.
An exception to this rule is when a professor asks all candidates to appear, informing the class of their platform.
