AMS election sees high abstention rates, varied voter turnout

This year, 17.4 per cent of eligible students voted in the 2025 AMS Elections ballot, marking a drop in turnout compared to 2023 and 2024, according to a voting report sent to The Ubyssey by AMS Elections.

The election saw three of four referendums pass and candidates elected as AMS executives, to the UBC Vancouver Senate and the UBC Board of Governors — all with higher than normal abstention rates.

Notably, the graduate student senator election was nullified by UBC and AMS Elections due to errors by AMS Elections.

Here are some key takeaways from the unofficial election results. Results will be approved and made official at the next AMS Council meeting on March 26.

Most referenda pass, student-proposed referendum ballot sees higher turnout than general election

Four of five referendum items passed, with a student-proposed referendum garnering higher voter turnout than the general election ballot despite being held on a separate ballot.

Due to incorrect information about referenda on the AMS's website and since AMS Elections was unable to verify some of the referendum item signatures, the student strike item was on a staggered ballot that received 18.9 per cent voter turnout, compared to the general ballot’s 17.4 per cent.

For referenda to pass, they must get a majority of ‘yes,’ votes and for at least 8 per cent of the student body — or 4,816 students — to make up that majority.

Of AMS-proposed referenda, the questions to create a new VP student life position, to allow large student groups to self-declare constituency status and to extend the budget deadline for student groups passed easily, with 86.7 per cent, 89.3 per cent and 90.5 per cent of the vote, respectively.

A referendum item to increase the AMS fee by $4.95 and index the Athletics and Intramural Benefit fee to the BC consumer price index failed, with only 53.4 per cent of the vote and 18.1 per cent of voters abstaining. This item has 7.6 per cent of eligible student voters in favour, falling just short of the required 8 per cent.

All races see increasing abstention rates, lower all-round turnout

This year’s voter turnout, sitting at 17.4 per cent, was lower than the last two years which saw a 22.9 per cent and 21.1 per cent turnout, respectively.

Previous Ubyssey coverage found referenda items sometimes increased voter turnout. In 2013, a U-Pass referendum was held and the election’s turnout was 43.9 per cent, a record for the AMS. Since then, the 2023 election saw the next highest voter turnout at 22.9 per cent with a referendum to increase the AMS/GSS Health & Dental Plan fee to include coverage for gender affirming care on the ballot.

Voters had the option to abstain from every race, and the abstention rates for this year’s election were higher than last year’s, where the highest abstention rate in the seven races for elected office was 30.1 per cent in the VP external race. This year, the average abstention rate for all races — excluding the VP external and VP finance by-election races — was roughly 36.7 per cent. The VP finance position led abstentions with 40 per cent.

Student abstention was slightly higher for uncontested races, however, uncontested candidates tended to win their elections easily despite this.

As the AMS VP external and VP finance resigned ahead of the election, the general election ballot also contained voting for the by-election races for both positions. The by-election candidates were the same as the general election candidates for both positions — Solomon Yi-Kieran for VP external and Gagan Parmar for VP finance. Both Yi-Kieran and Parmar received slightly higher abstention rates for the general election races, despite both running uncontested on the same platforms as they did for their by-election seats.

The presidential race was the most contested AMS executive race with five candidates — three of which branded themselves as joke candidates.

AMS Councillor Riley Huntley garnered 44.9 per cent of the votes, followed by former AMS VP academic and university affairs Drédyn Fontana with 9.6 per cent, /u/sasamats with 6.7 per cent, Nobody with 4.3 per cent and Barry “Bee” Buzzword with 4 per cent — 30.3 per cent of students abstained from voting.

The AMS uses an instant run-off voting system, meaning voters have the ability to rank candidates in order of preference. When determining results, the system first calculates all voters that placed each candidate as their first choice, and then continues to rank choices if candidates don’t meet voter thresholds. To be elected, a candidate must have received at least 34.85 per cent of the vote. Huntley received 44.9 per cent of the vote of first-ranked candidates, so he was automatically elected.

This year, 10,468 students voted in the presidential election, falling short of the last two year’s record-breaking numbers of 10,837 in 2023 and 10,977 in 2024.

First online March 26, 2025, 12:03 p.m.