Board of Governors - APPENDIX II - September 23, 1999

REPORT OF THE BY-LAWS COMMITTEE

Board of Governors Election Procedures and Fall 1999 Election Schedule

Recommended: That the Board of Govenors Election Procedures be revised as shown in Annex 1 to allow Internet Voting for Graduate and Undergraduate Students.

Background:

For undergraduate and graduate students, a new system has been devised by Information Technology Services, the University Secretariat and the Registrar's Office which will allow voting on the Internet, i.e., the World Wide Web, for Board of Governors and Senate student constituencies.

The schedules conform closely to the rules governing elections. However, some of the regulations need to be changed, as outlined below:

1. The procedures for elections have been revised to reschedule the Call for Nominations for all students during the third, rather than second week of September, i.e., to be made during the week of September 14^th rather than September 7^th in 1999. The Call for Nominations has traditionally been made during students' first full week on campus during orientation and their first few days of classes. The timing change is seen as an improvement in that it coincides with plans made in the Spring by the USC for their Fall by-elections and it is seen as a positive step in creating interest in the elections.

2. The election regulations state that nominations for all student constituencies will close 14 days after the call for nominations, i.e., close for most students at 4:00 p.m. on September 30 with Senate undergraduate "At Large" closing one week later (October 7). Each year following the close of nominations for "At Large", at 5:00 p.m. there is a Mandatory All Candidates meeting for all candidates to receive detailed instruction about campaigning and election rules.

   Starting this year, there will be two Mandatory All Candidates meetings: one for graduate students at 5:00 p.m. on September 30 following the close of nominations for graduate students and all undergraduate constituencies except At Large; and the other for undergraduate students at 5:00 p.m. on October 7, following the close of nominations for Senate undergraduate At Large candidates. The campaign periods are also different for Graduate students (October 1-11) than for Undergraduate Students (October 12-25). These changes do not require revisions to the Board election regulations.

3. There will be a significant change to the procedures for "Opt In" students. Students in Faculty of Education programs, students taking Distance Studies courses, and part-time graduate students have traditionally been sent a "Franchise Activation Form" with their Fall registration materials. they are interested in participating in the elections, they return the form to the University Secretariat, and they are subsequently sent a mail (paper) ballot for their constituency which they then cast by mail. For these groups, participation has traditionally been low. This year, using the PeopleSoft systems, the Registrar's Office is no longer able to distinguish these three groups of students to enable mailing the Franchise Activation Forms. However, these students are not alone in encountering difficulty in getting to campus polling booths to vote: last year, medical students proposed that they be included in the mailing of Franchise Activation Forms in future because many are located in hospitals and find it difficult to vote at campus polling stations. Voting on the Web addresses these concerns about access to polling booths since all students will be able to vote at any computer with access to the Web.

4. Elections for Graduate Student constituencies for the Board of Governors (1 position) and the Senate (4 positions) are scheduled for Tuesday, October 12, and Wednesday, October 13. For Undergraduate Student elections, voting on the web will take place on Tuesday, October 26, and Wednesday, October 27. When paper ballots were used, polling stations were open for two days during normal hours, i.e., approximately 10:00 a.m. to 7:30 or 9:30 p.m. Web voting will alo be scheduled for a two day period but votes can be cast at any time during the full 48 hour period. Students may vote at any computer connected to the Internet, including campus computer labs. The two-stage election -- Graduate Students followed by Undergraduate Students -- will allow evaluation of the first pilot project with a smaller constituency before the system is reset for the second.

The election process will be advertised in the Gazette and Western News and linked to the UWO Homepage. There is a demonstration ballot now shown on the University Secretariat's election site at: http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/election/demo [Note that this is a demonstration only of the appearance of the ballots, not of their functionality.]

Students have both an ID number and a PIN number to connect them to RegiStar. These serve as the passwords to allow the student to vote. The new voting system will allow an individual to vote only once. The system will record the ID number, time and machine used to access the Web and the vote cast by the individual will be counted once the ID number is validated, however, the stored record will NOT reveal how the individual voted.

Web-based voting is being introduced at this time because:

• It enfranchises more of the electorate who find it difficult or impossible to come to campus to vote and eliminates the "Franchise Activation" process which can no longer be supported through the student record system.
• There will be a substantial cost savings for the University Secretariat and the University Students' Council (should they use it for their elections) in not having to staff on-campus polling booths.
• Now that the basic process has been devised, in the future the system can be modified for a variety of purposes, e.g., faculty and staff association votes, USC referenda, Faculty Council votes, etc. There is a significant savings of employee time in no longer having to stuff envelopes and open and count ballots. The system will be offered for use by the USC for its Fall 1999 by-elections, held concurrently with those of the Senate and Board.

Subject to a positive review of the pilot projects in November, the Secretariat will pursue the introduction of voting on the web for the Administrative Staff and Faculty constituencies, and relevant changes to the Election Procedures will be proposed to the Board of Governors, through the By-Laws Committee.

The Board of Governors election schedules are outlined on the following page.

SPECIAL RESOLUTION NO. 9

E L E C T I O N P R O C E D U R E S

Pursuant to the provisions for membership on the Board of Governors as set out in the University of Western Ontario Act (1982) and By-Law No. 1, the following shall be the procedures for election or appointment to the Board...

Undergraduate Student Constituency (2 members)

1. To be eligible for election, a candidate must be an undergraduate student in the Constituent University who has completed one academic year as a full-time student or the equivalent as a part-time student, as may be verified by the official student records of the University. Full-time and part-time undergraduate students of the Constituent University who are full-time members of the administrative staff or members of Faculty are not eligible for candidacy in the undergraduate student constituency.

2. The Secretary of the Board may employ the USC Election Committee to supervise campaigning by candidates, to conduct on-campus elections of students to the Board and to count the poll, but any decision that a candidate be disqualified may be appealed to the Secretary of the Board by 4:00 p.m. of the second working day following the date of the letter notifying the candidate of the Election Committee's decision that the candidate be disqualified. Where there is inconsistency between the policies and procedures stated in USC Resolution Six and those of the Board, the policies and procedures of the Board shall take precedence and the final authority for resolving all disputes in such matters shall rest with the Secretary of the Board.

3. Procedure:

Each year when a vacancy shall occur in the undergraduate student constituency, the Secretary of the Board shall, during the first second week of classes (normally the second week of September), call for nominations for candidates to represent the undergraduate student constituency.

Completed nomination forms must be submitted to the Secretary of the Board not less than seven but not more than fourteen consecutive days from the official date of call for nominations. A Mandatory All Candidates Meeting will be scheduled for student candidates during the week following the close of nominations. Student nominees who do not attend or have not made arrangements to send an alternate will be automatically disqualified from candidacy. The Secretary of the Board shall then publish an official list of the valid nominations in Western News as soon as possible thereafter. The official list shall be by name alphabetically, showing for each nominee the academic program and year of registration as recorded in the official student records of the University and the verbatim statement (where applicable). The Secretary shall have discretion in restricting the published statement to 75 words should that submitted be in excess of this limit.

Undergraduate students of the Constituent University enrolled in Distance Studies and in the Faculty of Education may participate in the election by mail ballot provided they indicate their interest in doing so by completion of a Franchise Activation Form which will be provided in their registration materials. This form must be received by the Secretary of the Board by the date specified on the form (usually in the first week in October). The form will require the student's registration number, faculty code, name, and mailing address during the month of October of the year in which the election is held. In the case of all students eligible to vote by mail who have returned the Franchise Activation Form by the specified date, the Secretary of the Board shall, as soon as possible after the close of nominations, mail ballots to all eligible voters at the address provided on the Franchise Activation Form. Included with the ballot, which shall show only the full names of the candidates in alphabetical order, shall be an information sheet containing candidates' names and statements.

In the case of all undergraduate students other than those eligible to vote by mail, b Balloting will be conducted during a designated period at polling stations established on campus an election site linked to Western's Homepage on the Internet.

Completed ballots must be received by the Secretary of the Board not later than 4:00 p.m. on the seventeenth day after the official date of distribution of the ballots.

The Secretary of the Board together with the two scrutineers shall be responsible for validating all ballots, for the counting of the poll and for publishing the name(s) of the successful candidate(s) in an official notice of the Board to be posted at the Office of the Secretary of the Board of Governors and offered for publication, within forty-eight hours of the closing of the poll.

Graduate Student Constituency (1 member)

1. To be eligible for election, a candidate must be a graduate student in the University as may be verified by the official student records of the University. Full-time and part-time graduate students of the University who are full-time members of the administrative staff or members of Faculty are not eligible for candidacy in the graduate student constituency.

2. The Secretary of the Board may employ the USC Election Committee to supervise campaigning by candidates, to conduct on-campus elections of students to the Board and to count the poll, but the final authority for resolving all disputes shall rest with the Secretary of the Board.

3. Procedure:

Except as specified below,t The procedures for election of a graduate student to the Board shall be the same as for those for undergraduate students, mutatis mutandis.

Part-time graduate students may participate in the election by mail ballot, provided they indicate their interest in doing so by completion of a Franchise Activation Form which will be provided in their registration materials.

4. Note: No member of the Board of Governors whose salary is paid under a collective agreement or Memorandum of Agreement between the University and a union or employee association may serve as a member of any team negotiating matters related to the remuneration or benefits, terms of employment, rights or privileges available to employees in a class or group of employees of the University.