The Arts Student Body Council (ASBC) senator by-election results have been certified despite discrepancies in voter eligibility.
Some students who were eligible to vote were not permitted to cast their ballot in the online by-election, while at least one student in a different faculty — having transferred out of the faculty of arts in a previous term — received a ballot.
Voting was open to undergraduate students in the faculty of arts and ran from Thursday, Jan. 23 at 9:30 a.m. until Friday, Jan. 24 at 4:30 p.m. Ballots were cast through the University of Manitoba Students’ Union (UMSU) Simply Voting website, a web-based voting platform.
Kai Jassal, a second-year university student who is in his first year in the faculty of arts, said he never received a ballot and is aware of other students that faced voter eligibility issues.
Jassal explained that he never received the voting link in his university email account and still could not cast his ballot after logging in to Simply Voting during the voting period.
“I think it’s weird that they’ve chosen to certify an election that has irregularities in it,” said Jassal.
When questioned whether ASBC was aware of any voter eligibility issues, ASBC president Hannah Belec and vice-president Alex Rana said in a joint statement that “ASBC has and will continue to raise suggestions for improving the eligible voter list procedure to UMSU, the faculty of arts and the vice-provost of student affairs.”
Belec and Rana stated that ASBC does not have direct access to the eligible voter list and received the most current eligible voter list available from the office of the university secretary. The list was then forwarded to the UMSU chief returning officer (CRO) to be inputted into UMSU Simply Voting. “This is standard by-election procedure,” they stated.
The office of the university secretary confirmed that ASBC was provided with the voter list as requested on Jan. 22 but indicated that it contained “the most recently available data provided by UMSU.”
Belec and Rana also stated that the by-election results were certified on Jan. 27 and are to be posted to UMSU Simply Voting by the UMSU CRO.
The results reveal that Vivian Pinheiro won the by-election with 53 total votes, followed by Michael Orodo with 36 votes, Scott Saindon with 21 votes and Ritch Balute with 13 votes. Turnout was marked at 3.6 per cent, with 140 electors voting out of 3,876.
“Even though some students faced voting issues, I don’t think it would have significantly changed the overall outcome,” said Orodo, who finished in second place. He reaffirmed Pinheiro’s victory and wished to congratulate her on winning the by-election.
Saindon and Balute were reached for comment on voting issues in the by-election but did not respond by the Manitoban’s deadline.
“[ASBC] should care even if it’s a by-election, even if a small turnout voted,” said Jassal. “If irregularities can happen in a small election, in a by-election, they can happen in a bigger general election.”
Pinheiro will join Elora Cromarty and Fareedah Ganiyu as senators for ASBC. According to the ASBC bylaws, senators are expected to attend all senate and student senate caucus meetings, report regularly on senate activities and maintain two set office hours per week.
