Who should I vote for?
The YDSA candidates for ASM are Videh Binjrajka, Mo Cronesgrove, Tristan Englemann, Bobby Gronert, Zephyr Heggeland, Annalise Hetland, Avery Kahar, Haven Kvello, Case Morton-Lill, Gabo Ochoa Samoff, Emerson Shaw, and Addison Wolf. You can learn more about them on our candidates page!
What does the ASM do?
The ASM’s explicit powers include the following:
Allocating student activity fees (i.e., club funding)
Reviewing and recommending changes to campus policy pertaining to student life, services, and interests
Maintaining funding for services including: keeping the Unions open, maintaining recreational sports facilities, operating UHS, providing tenant counseling services, running the late night bus service, providing student childcare assistance, and maintaining the student radio station.
The ASM has, through the use of direct action campaigns, created 24-hour libraries, helped voter registration for thousands of students, created mandatory pre-exam study days, won two student regent seats, capped tuition increases, and ensured student controlled campus space. As a united slate, YDSA candidates will have more power in using direct action pressure campaigns to influence campus policy and operations.
What is “YDSA”?
YDSA stands for the Young Democratic Socialists of America—UW-Madison YSDA is a campus chapter of a national organization operating in over 130 schools nationwide. We are students organizing in our universities, colleges, and high schools to fight for the immediate needs of workers and students while building our capacity to fight for more radical and structural changes.
We form member driven unions that give real power to thousands of student workers. We organize to defend immigrants through campaigns for sanctuary campuses. We campaign to divest our schools from fossil fuels and Israeli apartheid. We run candidates for on and off campus elections: bringing class struggle to the halls of power. We do anti-poverty work through local mutual aid programs in our communities, and much much more!
When is the ASM election?
Voting begins 8:00AM CST on Monday, March 10, 2025, and ends at 5:00PM CST on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. You can add the voting period to your google calendar here!
How can I vote in the ASM election?
Between March 10th and 12th, you can vote at go.wisc.edu/asmvote. You can only vote for candidates within your school or college; for example, if you’re an L&S student, you can only vote for L&S candidates. You’ll have multiple votes, which we recommend casting evenly among your favorite YDSA candidates!
What do the YDSA candidates stand for?
YDSA candidates are running on divestment of student tuition dollars from genocide, total university fundraising and decision making transparency, funding and expanding UHS (specifically abortion/trans healthcare), greater student power and involvement in shared governance procedures, establishing a student workers union, and lowering tuition. YDSA candidates want to represent the will of the students: we want to hear from you! Email us at ydsauwmadison@protonmail.com with your ideas & priorities for the ASM: YDSA is committed to governance by students, for students.
How can I get involved in YDSA?
General meetings take place every Tuesday at 6 PM. Location is announced via discord; you can email ydsauwmadison@protonmail.com or DM @wisc_ydsa to obtain a discord join link! You can also keep up with our Instagram or subscribe to our google calendar and drop by any of our events—we host workshops, lectures, socials, and much more!
To learn more about YDSA as a national organization, including our values, activities, and ways to get involved, visit y.dsausa.org.