Executive Appointment Results

February 2, 2018

KINGSTON, ON – The AMS is pleased to announce the appointment of Miguel Martinez (ArtSci ‘19), Liam Tharp (Sci ‘19), and Munro Watters (ArtSci ’19) to the positions of President, Vice President (Operations) and Vice-President (University Affairs), or Team MLM.

Team MLM was elected on the fourth round of voting over Team ACS (Aniqa Muzmunder, Sarah Hanson, and Chloe Demizio).

The SimplyVoting Single Transferrable Vote (STV) system used in the Assembly yesterday is the same system used to conduct all contested AMS and Rector Elections, as per AMS Balloting Policy and Procedures. The use of this system was adopted by a 2/3 majority vote of the Assembly, prior to entering the Special Assembly.

SimplyVoting independently tabulates and certifies the results prior to releasing them to the AMS.

At the Assembly on Thursday night, the results were read 33-1 in favour of MLM, with one exhausted ballot. The method used to tabulate the votes was the same Single Transferrable Vote system used in all contested AMS and Rector Elections.

On the first round, the results were 13-13-6-2 (Votes for MLM, ACS, None of the Above, and TMZ, respectively). As no team reached the 50%+1 threshold on their first round, the option with the lowest votes, Team TMZ, was dropped and their votes were redistributed. This resulted in a breakdown of 15-13-6 (MLM, ACS, None of the above, respectively). With no team reaching 50%+1 of votes cast, the options for none of the above were dropped, and those votes were redistributed to yield an even split of votes, 17-17.

Employing the STV method in this situation, the option with the fewest original second place ballots was dropped, and those ballots were redistributed. Although Team ACS and Team MLM had the same votes in the first round, Team ACS received fewer votes in the second round of voting relative to MLM. As such, they were dropped from contention. This resulted in 33 votes in favour of MLM, with one ballot exhausted as no further preference was listed.

In an earlier press release, there was confusion on whether the votes from Team ACS would have second preferences redistributed. However, the STV method calls for the team that received the lower vote total in prior rounds to have their votes redistributed. This resulted in the system automatically redistributing the ballots from Team ACS, as they received fewer votes in the second round of balloting relative to Team MLM.

The AMS Secretary – in his capacity as acting Speaker – never cast any ballot in the election, contrary to what was claimed in an earlier statement. The AMS apologizes for the error and regrets any confusion caused.

In the interest of clarity and transparency, we are pleased to provide the certified results from SimplyVoting conducted under STV. Please see the Executive Appointment Results linked at the top of this post.

In accordance with a resolution at the Assembly, the results of each member’s ballots will be made public with the publishing of the Assembly minutes.

Quotes:

“Last night, after a seven-hour AMS Special Assembly, Team MLM was appointed as the next AMS Executive. We congratulate Miguel Martinez (ArtSci ‘19) on his appointment as President, Liam Tharp (Sci ‘19) on his appointment as Vice-President (Operations), and Munro Watters (ArtSci ’19) on her appointment as Vice-President (University Affairs). We look forward to working with each of them in the coming months as they transition into their new roles, and we are confident that they will continue to deliver meaningful results for all students.” – AMS Executive (Jennifer Li, Chelsea Hollidge and Palmer Lockridge)

Please direct all media inquiries to Neil Sengupta, AMS Secretary at secretariat@ams.queensu.ca

Backgrounder on Single-Transferrable Vote (STV):

On the first round of counting, each option shall receive a first preference vote for each vote, indicating its first preference

Should an option/candidate gain 50%+1 of the vote on the first ballot, they will be deemed the winner.

If no option gains 50%+1 votes, the option with the fewest first preference votes shall be eliminated from the question and their second preferences retabulated. This is continued until an option receives 50%+1 votes.

Should a tie occur, the option with the fewest original first ballot votes shall be dropped and the ballot shall be retabulated.

Should there be a tie for the fewest number of first preference votes, then among these, the option with the fewest number of second preference votes shall be eliminated.

Should a tie persist, the procedure shall continue with third preference votes, et cetera.

Alma Mater Society (AMS) – https://www.myams.org

The central undergraduate student government at Queen’s University, the AMS represents over 17,000 students and is the oldest student government in Canada. It has over 1,000 student volunteers and 700 paid staff.