Cheers erupted after a controversial motion for the York Federation of Students to institute electronic voting was soundly defeated at the YFS Annual General Meeting held on November 30.
Pro and anti YFS factions mobilized on social media in the run up to the AGM, with proponents of online voting claiming it would boost turnout and improve accessibility at the YFS elections.
Opponents assert that online voting is vulnerable to security and technical problems.
Traditionally, the YFS has opposed online voting, although other election processes at York have been conducted online. Voting in the LAPS ad-hoc committee elections last semester, for instance, was held online.
One oft-cited example in the argument against online voting is when the voting website in the student council elections at Western University was hacked.
The website title was famously changed to “Justin Bieber 2012” and “Welcome to the Justin Bieber Hairstyle vote 2012.”
Online voting generated considerable debate and a motion was passed to shorten the length of time allotted to speakers and reduce the number of speakers permitted.
Controversy continued when a motion to donate $1,000 to Black Lives Matter Toronto was challenged by speakers who suggested alternative uses for the money.
Incidentally, Alexandria Williams, vice president campus life, is a co-founder with Black Lives Matter Toronto.
Other motions included supporting Tamil political prisoners on hunger strike and condemning anti-black racism at the University of Missouri. Moreover, the York Federation of Students released the much anticipated budget and audit at the AGM.
According to the budget, student levies have declined by $36,000, while member services and expenses increased. In particular, salaries and benefits leapt over $100,000 and telephone expenses nearly doubled.
Overall, the budget reports a $36,927 deficiency of revenue versus expenditures from operations.
The YFS did not elaborate on the reported salary increase.
Additionally, a sharp increase in health care plan revenues remains unexplained.
Alex Kvaskov, Assistant News Editor
Featured image courtesy of Jun Wang
