The official results are different from the preliminary results only in the totals of votes received at the Bannatyne Avenue and Selkirk Avenue campuses. Their recorded numbers of cast ballots are now much more in line with traditional turnout levels. Nothing here changes my analysis in any way.
The voting totals of each academic unit are worth posting:
| Academic Unit | Votes | %age |
| University 1 | 714 | 32.6% |
| Science | 366 | 16.7% |
| Arts | 314 | 14.3% |
| Engineering | 171 | 7.8% |
| Management | 145 | 6.6% |
| Env., Earth, and Resources | 73 | 3.3% |
| Pharmacy | 59 | 2.7% |
| Extended Education | 50 | 2.3% |
| Kines. & Rec. Mgmt. | 41 | 1.9% |
| Human Ecology | 37 | 1.7% |
| Music | 35 | 1.6% |
| Education | 29 | 1.3% |
| Agriculture | 29 | 1.3% |
| Law | 27 | 1.2% |
| Architecture | 27 | 1.2% |
| Nursing | 22 | 1.0% |
| Fine Arts | 19 | 0.9% |
| Social Work | 16 | 0.7% |
| Medicine | 8 | 0.4% |
| School of Agriculture | 6 | 0.3% |
| Medical Rehabilitation | 3 | 0.1% |
The CRO mislabels the Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources, but we'll forgive her.
University 1 (the university's academic unit for nearly all first-year students) is voting in much higher numbers than they used to. In sum, the "Big 5" units (U1, Arts, Science, Engineering, and Management) represent 78% of all votes cast- a huge margin. Pharmacy had an excellent showing as well, almost certainly due to Pierce Cairns being a student of that faculty.
5 comments:
I can guarantee you that the numbers from Engineering would be higher if they'd stop snubbing us and put a booth in the atrium. Is that not the perfect place for a polling station? Open area, plenty of foot traffic from across campus, and a Tim Horton's right nearby. Makes sense to me...
You bring up a great point. Engineering votes in droves, and their per capita turnout is one of the hightest of all academic units. And every other "Big 5" unit has their "own polling booth" (with the exception of U1, who are spread out across the Fort Garry campus):
Arts - poll at Fletcher Argue
Science - poll at Armes
Management - poll at Drake
But Engineers don't usually swing to the left, so how much effort will a left-leaning administration put into setting up a polling booth in Engineering? (A hint: it starts with "z" and rhymes with "zero".)
I don't know if we need our own polling booth. They are fairly expensive and E2 is right next to U. Center. I don't think it is a question of some evil conspiracy to silence engineers as much as it is a question of our proximity to an already existing polling booth. If we were across the street like Management (not exactly the most left-leaning faculty on campus), you can bet there would be one there regardless of the prevailing political views of engineers. Besides, isn't it the CRO who decides where the polling places are anyways, and not the UMSU administration? Wouldn't it be a bit inappropriate for the administration to put any more than zero effort to convince the CRO to set up a polling booth in a certain place?
Also, even though we were fourth I would hardly call 2% less than the average turnout a drove.
I'm not sure how you've lasted this long in Engineering, Mr Latour, with such a shoddy appreciation of numbers. The 7% listed above is percent of -total- vote, not participation rate. The participation rate for Engineering was far and away the largest of 'the big 5' at around 17%. That is almost -double- the average turnout.
I'm not sure where this attitude of 'democracy on the cheap' comes from. It's reflected everywhere these days, including the recent policy to start appointing the community reps to UMSU council instead of having 'costly' by-elections. I spoke with a number of Engineering students who would have voted but simply forgot to do so, didn't know where to go or found it too much trouble in the busy school life of 'geer. People complain about voter apathy and low turnout, and they wonder why?
I do agree that there is likely no conspiracy going on here, but I stand by my assessment of the oversight. As there is no direct line between the locations, the atrium is not really that close to the UC polling booths. I daresay that there was a shorter traveling distance between the station in Pembina hall and the one in the Drake building.
And it's not just Engineers. People come from across campus to visit our atrium, our study space, our Timmies. You can't say that about Pembina Hall, the Drake Centre, or the Aggie building. It just makes sense to me.
wait... never mind my drove comment, I thought that 7.8% was the proportion of engineers who voted
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