SRA VP election ballots

On Sept. 11, the Student Representative Assembly passed a motion to amend the Operational Policy regarding McMaster Students Union vice-presidential, speaker and commissioner elections, in order to allow for the public release of ballots to the student body.

The motion was proposed earlier this summer when it was determined that there were two conflicting regulations in place: the Bylaw 3/A —Vice Presidential, Speaker and Commissioner Elections, which does not allow for public ballot release and the Operating Policy, which dictates that there must be public release of ballots.

Although plans were initially set for members of the assembly to vote during their meeting in June, limited attendance by the members pushed the motion back until this weekend.

Considering the large support for the ‘Vice-President at Large’ constitutional referendum earlier this January, which narrowly failed by 0.3 percent of votes, the regard for student body representation during vice-president elections is certainly being accentuated. Similarly, the basis for open ballot elections, which was just recently passed, was grounded on SRA transparency to the student body.

Esra Bengizi, SRA Humanities, spoke passionately for passing the motion to allow for public release of ballots. “I think students should be able to see this and hold us accountable for who we vote for. We essentially represent them and we were elected here to represent the students, not to elect our friends into the SRA,” she said.

While the large majority of the SRA voted in favour of the change, it should be noted that several representatives did not agree with the idea of open ballot. “There are a lot of complexities that go into the decision-making process for vice-president elections and reflecting back on the two years that I have been on the assembly, I really cherished the confidentiality of the process because I was able to vote true to my gut,” said Meg Hsu, SRA Science and University Affairs Commissioner.