The University of Manitoba Students’ Union (UMSU) is holding a referendum this month to ask its members the following question: “are you in favour of continued membership in the Canadian Federation of Students?”

Voting will take place on Oct. 27 and 28 when members — all undergraduate students at the University of Manitoba — can head to the polls, cast their votes and make their voices heard.

All voting will take place online for this referendum. Students can choose to vote with their personal devices, or they can use an online voting booth that will be set up in University Centre.

Students should take the time to do research and educate themselves on this important issue. It is a question that affects every single undergraduate student at the U of M, and each student deserves the chance to raise their voice and be heard. Democracy works best when voters are well-informed and up-to-date on the issues that affect them.

This referendum will take place over the course of three weeks.

This week marks the first week, from Oct. 11 until Oct. 14. We are currently in registration week, where UMSU members are allowed to register “sides” for the campaign.

A side is an organized team of students who support one position on the referendum question. The side can then campaign to convince students to vote in support of its position.

In order to register, these sides must have at least five members, with at least 50 nominators who support their position. The official side members and the nominators all must provide their first and last names, signatures, faculties, years and student ID numbers to the Chief Returning Officer (CRO) for the registration to be valid.

The second week, from Oct. 17 to Oct. 21, is campaign week, where the sides will have the opportunity to make their case to the student body. Campaigning is allowed from 9 a.m. on the morning of Oct. 17, and is allowed until the opening of voting on Oct. 27. Online campaigning, however, will be allowed until the end of voting on Oct. 28.

Voting takes place during the third and final week, where students will cast ballots on UMSU’s continued membership in the Canadian Federation of Students. Voting will take place online from 9 a.m. on Oct. 27 until 5 p.m. on Oct. 28.

I highly encourage students to do their research, pay attention during the campaign and, most importantly, get out and vote!

If any U of M student has questions about anything regarding this referendum, do not hesitate to contact myself, CRO Eric Johnson, at cro@umsu.ca.