Photo by Sage Blackwell.
The UVSS Board of Directors election polls have closed — and the unofficial election results came in on March 6. 2 156 students cast ballots between March 4 and March 6 — a turnout of 11.9 per cent of 18 148 eligible voters.
This year’s turnout is significantly lower than last year’s election, which saw 22.8 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots. UVSS Elections Chief Electoral Officer John Morrison told the Martlet in an emailed statement that they have requested anonymous voter data to examine demographic trends over the last four elections, hopefully finding specific areas for improvement in outreach and engagement.
Several positions in this election were decided through ranked ballots.
Here are the results for the 2026-2027 school year:
Tam Aljundi was elected director of campaigns and community relations, winning with 1 435 votes in the final round after vote redistribution. With 1 599 ballots cast in the race Aljundi finished with about 89.7 per cent of the final vote after redistribution.
For director of events, Mohan Selvarajan won after four rounds of counting with 1 407 votes, representing about 84.4 per cent of the 1 666 ballots cast after abstentions.
In the director of finance and operations race, Mariah Luzon beat current board representative for the Pride Collective Jayce Kusardi with 867 votes — 57.9 per cent — to 630 votes — 42.1 per cent.
Students elected Matthew Allen Curtis for director of outreach and university relations, receiving 938 votes — 59.6 per cent — compared with 635 votes — 40.4 per cent — for current director of student affairs Katie King.
The director of student affairs position was decided through ranked ballots, with Maddy Vanderhooft elected after the second round of vote redistribution, with 745 votes — about 52.3 per cent of the 1 424 ballots.
In the race restricted to international students, Cherop Lyoba won director of international student relations with 82 votes — about 57.3 per cent of the 143 ballots cast in that race.
For the 11 director at large positions, Lila Grierson led with 172 first-preference votes. The other 10 DAL positions will be filled by current DAL Alena Gavrilenko, current student senator Evan Maher, Donovan Wood-Gaines, Zoey Perry, Sydnee Tailfeathers, Midori Schimmelmann, Ame Sillars, Juliette Kaniki, Siena Jones, and current student senator Tëma Kuklev.
All four of the referendum questions passed. The UVSS CPI adjustment passed with 52 per cent in favor and 48 per cent against. The Martlet’s fee increase passed with 55.3 per cent in favor and 44.7 against. The Clubs and Course Union fee increase passed with 61.3 per cent in favor and 38.7 per cent against. Finally, the Uni 101 fee removal passed with 95.3 per cent in favor and 4.7 against.
Morrison said in his statement that this is the first election in 15 years in which every single seat on the board was contested. “Voters weren’t just checking boxes, they were making genuine choices for every single representative, which is a significant win for student democracy.”
The results were certified by Simply Voting, an independent election service that administered the ballot. The newly elected directors will begin their terms serving on the UVSS board and representing UVic students in May.
Results remain unofficial until candidate and proponent expense reports have been verified, all complaints and appeals are settled, and the current UVSS board of directors ratifies the Chief Electoral Officer’s report.
Directors are likely to ratify the results at the next board meeting on March 23.
