Category: Elections

Introduction

The hundreds of events in and around all 49 residence halls across campus every year, the voice of thousands of residents, and one of the leading student leadership organizations at Tech—that’s us, and if you live on campus, you’re a part of it! RHA is the second largest student organization on campus, and we’re looking to recruit our next team of Hall Council Officers! If you’re interested in helping determine how over $250,000 gets spent annually for residents, planning events for your residence halls, or advocating for residents in your community, RHA is for you. Learn more about what RHA is here, and learn more about Hall Council Officers and Hall Councils here.

Although Hall Council events, meetings, and day-to-day operations will be hosted in person, Hall Council elections will be hosted completely virtually this year. Residents interested in running in their Hall Council elections must complete an application. Residents will then be able to view candidate applications and vote digitally for their Hall Council Officers.

Informational Presentation

Looking for an overview of RHA, Hall Councils, and Hall Council Officer elections? We encourage every prospective candidate to view the below video in full, as it walks you through everything you need to know to be a successful applicant and Hall Council Officer!

Looking for a copy of the slides shared in the presentation? Check out the PDF below!

Reminders & Application Link

Positions Available

As discussed more here, each Hall Council has four open Hall Council Officer positions:

1. Meetings Coordinator
2. Communications Coordinator
3. Finance Coordinator
4. Events Coordinator

Elections Timeline

• Sunday, August 29, 11:59PM EDT: application deadline
• Friday, September 3, 5PM EDT – Sunday, September 5, 5PM EDT: voting
• Monday, September 6, 10AM EDT: election results are released, at the latest

Application Overview

The application to serve as an HCO can be found here!

• Your responses, unless indicated otherwise, will be compiled into a candidate profile and distributed to residents of your Hall Council to review prior to voting.
• This application is divided into two main components: (1) general information about you and (2) your leadership experience, platform, and goals and ideas as an HCO.
  • All candidates will write out answers to questions in Section 1.
  • Candidates will choose to respond to questions in Section 2 EITHER via video OR essay-styled written responses.

Bidding Down

We utilize a process called “bidding down” in HCO elections to offer prospective candidates the ability to run for more than one position. When you fill out your application, you will be able to indicate a primary position of interest and a secondary position of interest (your “bid down” position). If you do not win your election for your primary position of interest, you will be instantly considered for your second position of interest. Note that your primary position MUST be higher in gavel order than your secondary position of interest (Refer to the above section titled “Positions Available.” Your secondary position of interest must be lower in position than your primary position of interest).

If you are only interested in one position, you do not need to bid down to a secondary position of interest. If you win your election for your primary position of interest, you will not be considered for your secondary position of interest.

No Campaigning

No campaigning is allowed during HCO elections; your submitted application will be provided to every resident in your community to review, and the application must stand alone.

You may:

• Inform friends and residents about HCO elections, generally
• Encourage friends and residents to vote in HCO elections, generally
• Introduce yourself to residents and start meeting other people in your community, so that residents and voters generally know who you are

You may not:

• Use any campaign strategies that encourage residents to vote for a specific candidate
• Create posters, flyers, or other physical/print campaigning materials
• Create websites or other digital campaigning materials
• Send out emails or mass messages that encourage residents to vote for a specific candidate

Why do we have a no campaigning policy?

• Right now, the RHA Executive Board is a team of six people. We cannot realistically oversee campaigning and elections in 17 communities and 49 residence halls across campus; accordingly, if we allowed campaigning, there would be no feasible way for us to ensure that all candidates are following campaigning policies.
• Forbidding campaigning and only allowing submitted applications to represent candidates allows us to preserve integrity and equity in our elections process. Not all candidates have equal access to resources (whether those resources be printing capabilities, the financial means to pay for posters or custom websites/domain names, or something else entirely). By disallowing campaigning, we believe that we create a more level playing field for all candidates, regardless of background and access to resources.
• Recruiting HCOs and conducting a resident-wide elections process means that we already communicate lots with residents—over the past two weeks, we’ve sent every resident on campus multiple emails about RHA/Hall Councils/HCO Elections, hung door hangers on residents’ doors, encouraged RAs and HDs to send residents flyers and informational materials about HCO elections, and more. In the coming days, we’ll be reaching out to every resident yet again to share voting forms and candidate profiles with them. We don’t want residents to feel spammed with communications related to RHA and/or HCO elections, so we accordingly disallow campaigning to minimize the number of emails, flyers, knocks on doors, and more that residents receive during elections.

If you notice any candidate campaigning, please notify the RHA Executive Board by emailing rha-exec@groups.gatech.edu. Candidates caught campaigning will be subject to election penalties depending on the severity of the infraction.

Tabling

Have questions? Want to talk to the RHA Executive Board in person about Hall Councils and learn more about what RHA is all about? We’ll be tabling during the first week of classes, and we’d love for you to swing by! We’ll also have RHA merchandise—including stickers—for you to grab.

• Monday, August 23, 7:00 – 8:00pm — Folk/Caldwell Courtyard
• Tuesday, August 24, 7:15 – 8:15pm — Brittain Courtyard Outside of North Ave Dining
• Thursday, August 26, 5:30 – 6:30pm — North Avenue Turnstiles
• Friday, August 27, 3:00 – 4:00pm — 10th & Home

Contact Us

Have additional questions or concerns that you’d like to talk to us about? See our contact us page for information on how to reach out, and don’t hesitate to swing by our office hours to chat face-to-face.