Voter turnout drops once again
Voter turnout in the Laurier Students’ Union election dropped four percentage points from last year, with about 22 per cent of the student population casting their votes.
The sole presidential candidate, Kanwar Brar, was elected with 94.04 per cent of the vote. The provincial advocacy fee referendum question, which would charge each student $3.15 per year, also passed with 60.03 per cent of the vote. Overall, 27.37 per cent of the total vote was from Brantford students.
Last year, 26 per cent of Laurier students voted in the election. Even with a candidate from Brantford running for president in 2016, only 28.3 per cent of eligible students on the Brantford campus voted.
“That was so strange,” says Kaitlyn Atkins, who is in her second year of her role as Deputy Returning Officer. “I know we went into it really expecting to have high numbers.”
This year marks Nick DeSumma’s fourth year participating in the Students’ Union election process and he says that this campaign is probably the most interesting he has ever experienced.
“One presidential candidate obviously is harder to deal with when it comes to voter turnout, but Kanwar is doing a great job,” says DeSumma, who is the chair of the Board of Directors and chief governance officer for the Students’ Union. “He’s still engaged in this process like he was running against another candidate.”
According to DeSumma, several changes were made to this year’s election process, including keeping voting days open for three days instead of two, increasing promotion on both campuses and having the voting days earlier in the semester.
“We are trying to see if that’s not as busy of a time in the semester for students so that it would hopefully push them to vote,” says DeSumma.
In addition, several prizes will be given out to students who voted in the election, including gift cards to Williams and Wilf’s Restaurant and Bar, along with a grand prize of an iPad or an Apple watch.
Atkins adds that there was a focus on getting first year students to vote. Whichever floor has the highest percentage of students that voted will win pop tabs for their community, says Atkins.
“We’re not trying to buy students’ votes, we’re trying to get them to vote,” says DeSumma. “We’re not trying to influence their vote in any way, but it’s an effort to say this is something you can possibly have just by using your democratic voice.”
With a voter turnout goal of 30 per cent, Atkins says they were hesitantly optimistic of their high goal on the first day of voting. According to DeSumma, several events throughout the election campaign had low turnouts.
“We can only do so much when it comes to social media and just having the events. We can lead a horse to water, but we can’t force them to drink,” says DeSumma.
“Twenty-six per cent is not an accurate representation of the student body,” adds DeSumma. “Hopefully, this election process can show that the student voice is important and we want to make sure as many students as possible can vote so all their voices are heard.”
