Four in the running to be top dog of UOW student union WUSA

But Rafferty fears new voting rules will make it even harder for progressive left candidates such as herself to succeed in this year’s Wollongong Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA) elections.

This time last year the University of Wollongong student was rejoicing after being elected WUSA president.

But Rafferty’s celebrations were short-lived.

The WUSA Appeals Panel ousted the president-elect from the top job for in part campaigning in classrooms before and during the election period.

The three-member appeals panel also found that two Young Liberals at UOW tried to influence and broker deals with other student politicians in an effort to ‘’roll’’ Rafferty.

Read more: WUSA saga boils over with two students disqualified from student elections

Rafferty, the Save Our Union group leader, hopes things run smoother in 2018.

But she is concerned with University Council election changes scrapping above the line voting.

Rafferty said last year’s union election had one of the largest voting turn outs in UOW’s history, with over 1400 students casting their vote.

“I can’t see those numbers repeated this year because below the line voting is pretty bad for student participation,” she said.

“It is pretty bad also for the grassroots left because it means that voting is really convoluted and takes a long time.

“Not only do yo have to individually select but if you want preferences as well, you have to individually select at least 16 and up to 48 different candidates.

“It is sort of like voting below the line on a senate ballot but for a student union.

“We are hoping for a good result for the progressive left and stop the university meddling in student affairs.”

Fellow WUSA president candidate Mikayla Barnes, also felt a little “intimidated at first” with the change to below the line voting.

But the YES For WUSA leader said the change could “even the playing field a little bit”.

Josh Mills, the presidential candidate for the group Activate, agreed below the line voting could make some people less inclined to vote.

“But, at the end of the day, if you care about WUSA and you care about having a good voice for students on campus, then you will go through and do all the voting,” he said.

“WUSA these last few years has been a bit of a shambles. This year has been a bit of a joke, especially after last year's election.

“We want to put an end to that and get back to concentrating on issues important to students.”

Read more: University of Wollongong student democracy under the microscope

The Mercury was unable to contact the fourth president candidate Nathanael Hutchison for comment.

WUSA voting ends on Thursday, October 18 at 5pm.

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