How To: Off-Cycle Petitioning/Delegate Elections

Interested in petitioning for an open delegate seat? Read On!  

For Summer 2026, petitioning applications must be received by August 1st at 11:59pm. Petitions must be signed by August 15th at 11:59pm. The sooner the appropriate number of signatures are submitted, the sooner the seat can be filled.

CGS only has Spring and Fall elections set for 3-4 weeks in length, with Spring elections being the primary mode of filling CGS delegate sets. Outside of these election cycles, CGS does have mechanisms set in place to fill open delegate seats on a rolling basis. Please read on for more information as to this process! 

You can check whether there are open delegate seats in your program by going to our current delegates page and looking for your program. 

If there are open delegate seats, you can fill out a delegate application. In between election cycles, filling out this application will allow you to begin the petitioning process. Once you have submitted your application, the CGS Vice President will reach out to you to share a petitioning link. If you do not receive an email from CGS within a few days, please reach out to cgs@osu.edu for help.

The petitioning link allows you to gather signatures from graduate students in your unit of representation (department/program). For a vacancy to be filled, a student must receive signatures from 25% of students in their unit of representation (department/program) or 10 students in their unit of representation, whichever is fewer. Candidates will also need to be approved by their Graduate Studies Chair or Director of Graduate Studies. 

More information regarding the role and responsibilities of delegates.

Applications can be found here. Delegate applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Please contact the CGS Vice President at cgs@osu.edu with any questions.