Rosty SorokaIt’s fair to say that this year’s University of Alberta Students’ Union (UASU) election didn’t go smoothly. While the Discipline, Interpretation, and Enforcement Board (DIE Board) has made its final rulings and the results have been ratified, confusion still remains. And the UASU isn’t doing much to help.
Much of students’ confusion comes from how the Elections Office counted and reported results for the vice-president (academic) (VPA) race, following the disqualification of one of the two candidates, Farah Elgaweesh. The UASU has failed to resolve students’ concerns and confusion, leaving doubt and distrust to fester.
The Elections Office took Elgaweesh off the ballot while voting was still open. This gave no time for Elgaweesh to appeal the rulings that resulted in her disqualification. It also means the Election Office never told students the number of votes Elgaweesh got before they took her name off the ballot.
Students who voted deserve to understand how their elected officials won. But the UASU’s inadequate communication has made that a lot more difficult. Without taking their time to make clear what happened and why, council ratified the results. Convenience and speed shouldn’t take priority over students’ concerns.
According to Marc Dumouchel, the UASU’s general manager, Elgaweesh’s name was removed from the ballot because of the Elections’ Office software. The software simply didn’t record the votes for Elgaweesh and that number isn’t known by the UASU, nor can it be recovered. If a student had placed Elgaweesh as their first choice, the software counted their second choice instead. Because of this, the numbers released to students only show the number of votes for Layla Alhussainy and None of the Above. This leaves students who want to know the original vote count in the dark. But in the past, when a candidate was disqualified from a race, the UASU proceeded differently.
In both 2015 and 2017, the Elections Office postponed the release of the results following the disqualification of candidates. Unlike this year, the Elections Office waited for the DIE Board to make its ruling to confirm or overturn the disqualification before counting the votes and releasing those numbers. I can’t understand why the UASU changed this, or how the change serves students. Postponing counting and releasing the results only makes sense. It avoids the kind of confusion students are now experiencing.
The Elections Office didn’t give a reason for counting the votes differently than it has in the past. Nor was explanation given in the statement posted by the Elections Office. Several students attended the council meeting where the votes for the VPA race were ratified to voice their concerns. Elgaweesh was also in attendance. In an interview with The Gateway, Elgaweesh said she was unaware that those students would attend the meeting and share her concerns about the results of the VPA race. It’s evident that the UASU has left students, other than just Elgaweesh, frustrated and confused.
“It’s just quite disrespectful to students who voted,” Elgaweesh said in an interview with The Gateway. “[Students] deserve to know who is representing them and how those people who are in office came to office.”
But even the little information available to students is difficult to find. The Elections Office posted its statement on its Instagram story and on the UASU’s website. But an Instagram story disappears after 24 hours and the statement on the website is hard to find. Unless a student knowingly sought the statement out, they likely wouldn’t find it.
The rush to count and release the votes for the VPA race has left lasting confusion and doubt among students. Yet, council continued to push ahead with ratifying the results of the race, despite students’ concerns and uncertainty. Students deserve an explanation from the UASU for why their votes were counted the way that they were. If students can’t understand or trust the election process, why would they bother voting?
In a statement to The Gateway, Alhussainy said she plans to “focus on collaboratively reviewing all aspects of our elections and how we engage students.” Hopefully, this means students will see real actions taken, if not to resolve the confusion of this year’s election then to prevent more for the next one. Otherwise, students’ trust and engagement with the UASU will deteriorate.
