Analyzing the UNA Election Results

The results are in and the 'current' director slate practically swept the election with three of their four candidates topping the polls and their fourth candidate (Kang) ranking 6th overall.  The seventh candidate elected, Mojdehi, scraped in from 9th place (in a field of 13). He won due to the local area rule that say no more than three candidates can be elected from one local area. This is two elections in a row (2019 & 2021) in which a lower vote candidate was elected due to the bylaw.

In terms of voter turnout this election was surprisingly disappointing with only 1209 people casting ballots. The record remains the 2014 election that saw almost 1500 people cast ballots. It is also disappointing that close to 2000 votes were 'wasted.'  If each voter had cast the full 7 votes they could there would have been about 8500 votes cast. What happened was that most people only voted for 4, 5, or 6 candidates and a total of 6,537 votes were cast on 1200 ballots.

[Update, Dec. 2/21]. It also came to light that 134 ballots mailed to the old V6T 1Z4 postal code (faculty and staff housing) were returned. UBC and Canada Post changed the postal code some years ago, but mail continued to get delivered. This time it didn't work and a number of ballots found themselves back at UNA headquarters. It is uncertain whether the missed voters did get their ballots or not. Based on an overall voter turn out of 20% a potential 25 ballots may have been disrupted by this problem.

Mojdehi, elected with 360 votes, ran once before (2016).  In that election he placed last in a field of four candidates while wining a respectable support of 1/3 of the voters.  This is his first time elected.  Five Wesbrook Place candidates received more votes than Mojdehi in places 4 through 8. Given his role in UBC Security he should please those voters calling for more law and order.

Holmes handily beat off his Hamptom Place competitor Ngieng by a factor of about two to one. Ngieng was close to winning a seat.  Given the local area rule she would  only have needed about 40 more votes to have joined Holmes on the board and then beat Mojdehi to a seat. As the highest scoring student candidate it was in the realm of possibility. But election stories are about what did happen, not what could have happened.

The notable thing in this election is the consistently poor showing of the youth candidates (the AMS Slate) who occupied the bottom four positions after Mojdehi. Ranging from Ngieng at 318 to Gan at 219 they were unable to break onto the board.  From neighbours and friends I've spoken to it seems the four youth candidates really didn't click with most UNA voters. They made big promises, sweeping claims, and didn't seem to be able to activate that great many student voices that AMS have claimed are unheard and unrepresented in the UNA. If there is an untapped reservoir of unheard students voters living within the UNA they didn't turn up for this election. With the effort of the AMS communications media behind them one might have thought the student slate would have faired a lot better, even electing one or two candidates. The AMS even voted to spend $7,400 to promote the student candidates (see also Ubyssey, last paragraph). But the numbers show us they had no purchase on the UNA voter and took the last four places in the vote totals. The way in which the UNA terms of office (three years) and scheduling of elections (once every three years) will make it hard for any student candidate to get elected - hard, but not impossible.

Now the hard work of governing what amounts to a community centre advisory council and municipal services contractor to UBC.  The elected span the diversities of the residential neighbourhoods - Vancouver retirees and newcomers to Canada, university faculty and staff, renters and leaseholders, and all manner of occupations and personal histories. They have all demonstrated a strong commitment to community values, even as they may each define these 'values' differently.  I wish them well and look forward to seeing how they find their way!

The breakdown of votes are as follows:

CANDIDATE	NEIGHBOURHOOD	TOTAL VOTES	SUCCEED?
Watson, Richard	Hawthorn Place	825	Yes
McCutcheon, Murray	Hawthorn Place	782	Yes
Holmes, Bill	Hampton Place	740	Yes
Glassheim, Eagle	Wesbrook Place	694	Yes
Kang, Zheng (Jane)	Wesbrook Place	605	Yes
Gallo, Maria	Wesbrook Place	542	Yes
Liu, Fei	Wesbrook Place	534	No*
Cheng, Tony	Wesbrook Place	384	No*
Mojdehi, Ali	Hawthorn Place	360	Yes
Ngieng, Sofia	Hampton Place	318	No
Prost, Mitchell	Hawthorn Place	314	No
Co, Erin	Wesbrook Place	220	No
Gan, Mary	Wesbrook Place	219	No

Colour Legend

Name:  'Current Directors' Slate

Name:  'AMS Slate.