Walls, pillars and bulletin boards on Northeastern University’s Oakland campus were steadily taken over in recent weeks by masses of colorful campaign flyers designed by the newest cohort of student government hopefuls. It’s election season for the class of incoming Oakland first-year students, and just days after moving into their dorms and beginning classes, a fresh flock of more than 30 candidates wasted no time spreading their political messages to attract voters. Campus leaders said the energy, motivation and community engagement from this 2026 Associated Students of Northeastern University (ASNUO) cohort resulted in the largest-ever voter turnout – 384 total votes, or more than a third of the campus’s record-size student population.
ASNUO serves as the voice of the undergraduate and graduate student bodies on the Oakland campus, and comprises several positions, each with its own responsibilities, such as finance chair and co-presidents of engagement and operation. The candidates credited their political fervor to ASNUO’s novel ban on social media campaigning. Forced to use old-school, analog methods to reach their fellow classmates, students built suggestion boxes, barked their messages in public and practiced their political elevator pitches on faculty members. They said the race, while still competitive, was defined more by community, collaboration and good-spirited fun – something Northeastern experts say could not have been possible over social media.
