York Federation of Students’ bylaw regarding the nomination period for the spring elections has been broken, and students are complaining.
Bylaw 10.5 states “notice of the date of the election and the nomination procedures to members by publication in a campus newspaper at least 14 days prior to the start of the nomination period.”
The nomination period for the elections started on January 20 and the notice was printed in Excalibur on January 8, exactly 12 days before the start of the YFS nomination period.
Bradley Chin, the chief returning officer for this YFS election period, says there are no penalties for breaking this bylaw and that on January 6, he put up more than 250 posters around campus.
“I also had the nominations advertisement run in the Excalibur for three weeks, not two,” says Chin.
The advertisement Chin is referring to has run in the January 8 and in the January 15 issues, as well as the current issue of Excalibur, detailing important election dates and specific mandates and procedures for candidates running for both executive and director positions.
According to the bylaw, the nomination period should have opened on January 22, exactly 14 days after the ad was printed. Instead, the nomination period opened on January 20, making the period two days longer.
“I personally believe giving students an extra two days to collect nominations is a better way of having more students participate in the YFS elections,” says Chin.
The CRO is responsible for the overall logistical administration of YFS elections. Eduardo Rodriguez, a secondyear economics major, upon noticing the infraction contacted both the executive director, Hamid Osman, and the CRO. He then contacted the Elections Appeals Committee to settle the matter.
In the EAC ruling obtained by Excalibur, it is stated that Rodriguez’s complaint was dismissed because “the CRO and Elections Committee took all necessary steps to uphold the bylaws and provide sufficient notice, given the publishing schedule of campus publications.”
The ruling notes that upholding the bylaw would mean shortening the nomination period, which “would seem to contradict [Rodriguez’s] desire for ‘free and fair’ elections by providing less opportunity for candidates to complete their forms.”
In the ruling, the EAC also recommends adding the advertisement of the elections via postering and on the YFSwebsite to the bylaws to avoid confusion moving forward. Rodriguez feels when the dates for the nomination period were determined, the bylaw wasn’t taken into consideration.
“If they knew, they wouldn’t have made that mistake,” he says.
“I feel like YFS doesn’t follow the rules and that they can do whatever they want because they hold all the cards, and I don’t think that is fair,” says Rodriguez. “How do we make sure the people that set the rules, follow the rules?”
As outlined in the ad, the nomination period starts on January 20 and closes January 31. If students have any questions or comments, they should submit them to the chief returning officer at cro@yfs.ca.
Hamid Adem
News Editor
