CRO Statement Regarding Arts and Design Poll Station Location at St.

James Campus
Evan Murray Chief Returning Officer 2013 General Elections Student Association of George Brown College March 7, 2013

In regards to some concerns that I have heard from candidates regarding the lack of a polling station in the School of Design building, 230 Richmond Street East, I felt that it was necessary to make public the reasons why it was decided that the voting for the Arts and Design Educational Centre Representative will be taking place outside the Kings Lounge at 200 King St. E. The reasons are as follows: 1) According to the reports from previous elections, when a polling station has been located in 230 Richmond Street East, voter turnout has been low. Furthermore, in the 2012 General Election, Arts and Design students did not get a full week of voting at the St. James campus, unlike what we are offering this year. 2) The decision to locate the polling station for Arts and Design students at 200 King St. E. takes into account that this is a central location for both the Arts and Design students who have classes at 230 Richmond St. E. and the Arts and Design students who have classes at 341 King St. E. According to Google Maps: 200 King St. E. is a 5 minute walk from 341 King St. E. 200 King St. E. is a 4 minute walk from 230 Richmond St. E. However, 230 Richmond St. E. is an 8 minute walk from 341 King St. E., making 200 King St. E. a more central location for all Arts and Design students. 3) I have a limited budget in terms of personnel, time and money. While I sincerely would like to accommodate everyone in their home building, this is not possible due to these constraints. 4) Students with classes at 230 Richmond St. E. already come to 200 King St. E. in order to access Student Association services, and it is not unreasonable to expect them to do the same in regards to casting a vote in the SA elections. 5) During elections with Elections Ontario and Elections Canada, voters are expected to travel to the specific polling station which they have been assigned. I do not feel that it is unreasonable to expect voters in the Student Association elections to do the same. 6) Because we are not given the resources to have electronic voting, we use only printed paper lists. It is therefore not possible to have multiple simultaneous polling stations per Educational Centre per campus in order to ensure that a students name will appear on only one list and they do not vote twice. 7) Keeping in mind the limitations outlined in point #6, to accommodate a request at this late time for a single day of voting at 230 Richmond St. would mean that voting would need to cease for

this day at the Kings Lounge, and potentially disenfranchising Arts and Design students who show up to vote based on the advertising already done. 8) The total number of Arts and Design students at St. James comprise less than 1000 students. Again, while we would like to accommodate all students in their home buildings, we have to remember that many other Educational Centres are much larger than Arts and Design and this is the reason that they will be getting their own specific polling stations at their home buildings. I hope that it is now clear why this decision was made. The elections team has been working very hard to ensure that the 2013 elections are fair, equitable, accessible and enjoyable. Thank you.