Graduate assistants won’t be heading to the polls in May to vote for a union — they’ll be heading to the post office.
The state Bureau of Mediation Service announced Wednesday that the election will be in mail ballot form.
The bureau will send out the ballots April 16 to the eligible voters — teaching and research assistants. The votes must be received by the mediation service no later than 4:30 p.m. on May 10. Results will be tallied on May 11.
Those graduate assistants not receiving a ballot by April 23 must contact the bureau if they wish to vote.
The announcement comes after a six-month signature card drive, which ended Feb. 1 with a total of 2,300 signatures from the approximately 4,000 graduate assistants eligible to vote.
To win the election, 50 percent plus one of the graduate assistants who send in a ballot must vote in favor of a collective bargaining unit.
Additionally, campaigning will be allowed while the ballots are out. Sometimes the mediation service bans campaigning during an election period, but because of the magnitude of the voting body, officials opted not to limit campaigning.

–Kelly Hildebrandt