On Saturday, October 10, the results of the Fall 2020 UNB-SRC by-election came in.
Candidates Charlotte Fanjoy and Clara Kelly elected to sought positions
Charlotte Fanjoy was voted for Vice President External with 41 “yes” votes and Clara Kelly was elected as Nursing and Health Sciences Representative with 43 “yes” votes.
Extremely low turnout for by-election
According to the results, there was extremely low turnout this year. Out of the 1950 registered voters, fewer than 50 ballots were cast. The turnout for this year by-election was 2.2 per cent, a 8.7 per cent decrease from last year’s elections.
Breakdown of faculty voting
Out of the six faculties that voted, most of the votes came from the Faculty of Arts, which had 14 voters that represent two per cent of the faculty.
The Faculty of Nursing had 12 voters (four percent of the faculty), the Faculty of Business had nine voters (two per cent of the faculty), the Faculty of Science had six voters (one per cent of the faculty), the Faculty of Engineering had one voter (one per cent of the faculty), and the SBUS faculty had one voter (four per cent of the faculty). The rest of the faculties had zero voters.
Low turnout disappointing but expected
According to the President of the SRC, Patrick Hickey, because of the small number of candidates running and the current pandemic, the low voter turnout and engagement were expected.
“However, it was still disappointing to see low voter turnout and we really hope more students will be engaged in our general election in the winter”, says Hickey. “We will work harder to promote the election and get students engaged and excited about our election”.
