Report of the Chief Returning Officer York Federation of Students General Election February 2015

Introduction The 2015 York Federation of Students General Election began on January 14, 2015 with the opening of nominations and ended on February 14, 2015, with the release of the unofficial election results. Of the twenty-two available positions, nineteen (19) were contested and three (3) director positions were acclaimed.

Election Preparations The 2015 General Elections followed the rules and regulations as outlined in the York Federation of Students by-laws. A paper ballot system was used and arrangements were made with York University security to store the ballot boxes during the voting period. The Deputy Returning Officers were selected and their main task was to prepare the polling stations and hire the polling clerks. The Elections were advertised on the YFS website, Excalibur and on information posters on the Keele and Glendon Campuses.

Nomination Process: The Nomination period opened on Wednesday, January 14 at 10:00am and closed on Wednesday, January 28 at 4:00pm. Nomination packages were available at the YFS Office in the Student Centre. A full-page advertisement was taken out in the Excalibur and a notice was placed on the YFS website, and on hundreds of posters throughout the Keele and Glendon campuses. Potential nominees were asked to collect a package that contained general information about the Elections, the Election By Law and the nomination forms. Each potential nominee was requested to personally collect the nomination package to ensure that the nominee had all the general information and received a copy of the York Federation of Students By-laws. The nomination package submitted by each potential candidate was reviewed to ensure they possessed the required signatures, 100 for executive positions and 30 for councilor positions.

The following candidates submitted completed nomination packages:

Successful Nominations

Position Successful Nominees President Willem Hart Saereen Quershi Mithilen Mathipalan Emile Wickham VP Operations Phillip Grozdanovski Judy Jo Gayle McFadden VP Campaign & Advocacy Annalissa Crisostomo Chenthoori Malankov VP Equity Huda Alsarraj Steve Mulholland Alexander Sokol VP Campus Life Zeb Khandwala Alexandria Williams Education Lindsay Rosen Aparna Yogaselvam Enviromental Studies Murad Abishov Edith Barabash Fine Arts Naomi Adjei-Asamoah Akil Wickham Health Kristina Ioudina Roshni Raveenthiran Lassonde Linda Chigbo Nitz Yaish Liberal Arts & Professional Studies Mahmoud Rakha Ashutosh Sharma Schulich Severina Lutaj Dishan Ratnajothi Science Amal Bashir Calumet College Patrick Walters Founders Collede Daulton Scott Glendon College Amina Nur Daniel Paterson Vanier College Mohabat Fazel Yoseph Wondwossen Bethune College Iman Fakih Gabi Simchovich Stong College Kevin Claveria Tim Hoskins New College Edmund Green Shenikqwa Phillip Winters College Nigel D’Souza Ragda Habbal McLaughlin College Jermaine Cowie Kiyano Siu

SLATES A Better Choice Bloc glendonois Student Action YU Red

All Candidates Meeting The All Candidates Meeting (ACM) took place on Friday January 30, 2015 at 4:00 pm in room 313 of the Student Centre. Before the meeting commenced, 3 candidates were told that they had not met the minimum required signatures to become an eligible candidate, and if they wished they could appeal the decision of the CRO. At the meeting the important dates were reviewed, the location of the polling stations released and the list of all eligible Candidates reviewed. The elections by law were then reviewed in depth. Candidates were invited to ask questions regarding the Election process and the Election by law. At the end of the ACM each candidate was required to sign a form stating that they had attended the ACM and that they had received, agreed to abide by and understood the contents of the Election Code. All candidates and/or their proxy signed such a form.

Campaign Period The campaigning period opened Monday February 2 at 10:00am and closed Friday February 13 at 4:00pm. The by laws stipulates where and how campaigning should take place and a list of appropriate demerits points if there are any violations of the York Federation of Students by-laws. The campaign period did not have a lot of complaints but a message was sent to all candidates requesting that they play fair in the spirit of the elections.

All Candidates Debate

Glendon Campus Debate The All Candidates Debate(ACD) – Glendon Campus took place on Wednesday February 4, 2015 at 10:00am in the Glendon Campus Cafeteria. The executive candidates presented to the audience and entertained questions from the floor. Each candidate was allocated 3 minutes to present and 3 questions were permitted from the floor. Each candidate was allocated 1 minute to answer each question. Members of each slate attended the Glendon debates. The debate went very smoothly.

Keele Campus Debate The All Candidates Debate-Keele Campus took place on Thursday February 5, 2015 at 10:00am in the Underground of the Student Centre. As with the Glendon debates, candidates were allocated 3 minutes to present, and questions were permitted from the floor. Similar to the Glendon debates, team members from each slate were in attendance. It was very encouraging to see students interested in the candidates and the elections.

Poll Clerks For the Paper Ballot system, two poll clerks must be present at the polling station for a vote to be cast. Posters were placed on campus and on the YFS website and the YFS notice board advertising the position. In total 45 poll clerks were hired to run the 10 polling stations. Training took place February 7, 2015.

Polling Stations The polling stations were located as follows

Vari Hall Rotunda - 2 stations Scott Library – 2 stations Student Centre TEL Building Fine Arts Cafeteria Vanier College Lasonde Building Glendon Cafeteria

Campaigners are asked to stay 6m away from the polling station to respect the integrity of the vote. Polls were taped off as a courtesy to campaigners to indicate the 6m cut-off.

Voters’ List The voters’ list is obtained from the York University Administration in electronic format. A request was sent to obtain this in January. On January 30 a list was provided to the CRO. The list was then uploaded onto the computer system which the poll clerks would use to verify students’ identification.

Voting Procedure The voter is required to bring his/her student card or valid government identification to vote. The poll clerk inputs the voters first and last name and the last digit of the student number when prompted. The system then displays the voter’s faculty and college affiliation. The poll clerk hands the voter the executive ballots and one for faculty and one for college affiliation. The voter is instructed to step behind the voter screen and place an “X” next to the name of the candidate of his/her choice on each ballot and then fold the ballots and place them in the ballot box. The poll clerk then records that the person has voted. This system is in place to prevent students from voting more than once. The system at each polling station can only be accessed by password, which only the CRO and DROs possess. Only the CRO and the Chair of the Election Committee have access to this system.

Double Envelope System The double envelope system is used when a voter’s name cannot be found on the list or the system says the person has voted and the person is insistent that he/she has not voted.

The voter is instructed to place his/her ballots into and envelope and seal it. Then, the voter is instructed to place that envelope into a second envelope, seal it and write his/her name and student number. These envelopes are removed from the ballot box during counting and compared to the voter list. If the person has not voted the first ballot is discarded and the second blank envelope with the ballots is added to the count. If the name cannot be found on the voters list, the envelopes are put aside to be verified by the administration and then added to the count.

Voting Period The Voting period was very hectic on the first two days. As a result the polling stations were restocked with ballots before the end of the day. There were complaints of campaign material visible at polling stations. It is the job of the poll clerks to remove any campaign materials left behind by the voter. The poll clerks were instructed to be more diligent and there were no more reports of incidence of this kind. Otherwise, the voting period went smoothly.

Ballots The ballots were similar to the ballots designed last year. The ballots were printed at the Ryerson University print shop and couriered to York University to the CRO. The unused ballots were stored in a secure location and only the CRO had access to this location.

Ballot Boxes The ballot boxes and seals were ordered from Elections Canada. At the end of each voting day the ballots boxes were sealed and signed by the two poll clerks and scrutineers at the polling station. The ballot boxes were then escorted to Vari Hall by the poll clerks, the scrutineers and one of the DROs or the CRO. The same procedure was taken for the Glendon ballot box and the box was driven to Vari Hall by the CRO , the scrutineers and the poll clerks. The ballot boxes were then transported to the York University Security centre located in the William Small Centre. Only the CRO has access to this location and only the Security supervisor has access to the key.

Counting the ballots Counting began at 9:00am on Saturday February 14, 2015. The ballot boxes were collected from security and transported to Founders Senior Common Room for counting. The ballot boxes were opened according to location, sorted by position, sorted by candidate and counted under the supervision of the scrutineers. The scrutineers were allowed to contest spoiled ballots. The counting procedure was very thorough and time consuming. This procedure is in place to ensure no errors are made during the count and to reduce recounting the ballots. Due to electrical issues caused by weather conditions at York University, Founders building was left without power, therefore the count was moved to the Student Centre Building at approximately 4pm. Sealed boxes were escorted to the Student Centre by the CRO and poll clerks. The count took 20 hours to be completed. Over 6500 votes were cast for a total of approximately 33,000 ballots.

Election Results The table at the end of this report outlines the results.

Complaints and Demerit Points The table at the end of this report outlines the total number of demerit points levied against each candidate. Also, you will find all the Elections Appeals Committee rulings.

Recommendations for Subsequent Elections

1. Education Students Campaign- York University has two types of Education students; general and concurrent education. Because those in concurrent education a part of a second faculty, I would recommend an awareness campaign for education students in the form of posters at the polls 2. Ballot Counting- I would recommend having an alternative room for the ballot counting booked in cases of emergency. 3. Paper Ballot – Based on the high voter turnout I would recommend that the Paper Ballot system be employed again.

Conclusion Overall the election was a success. Candidates played fair and had mutual respect for one another. I would like to thank the staff of the YFS for their support. It has been a pleasure serving as the 2015 Chief Returning Officer.