The results of the Fall Break Referendum are in! 10,285 undergraduates voted out of 34,020 eligible voters. That’s a 30.23% voter turnout! That’s the highest voter turnout we’ve had since vote.feds.ca went live in 2014. Way to go, Waterloo! Thank you for voicing your choice.

Question 1

Implement full-week Fall Break pilot: 8156 (79.92%)
Continue with current Fall Break structure: 1759 (17.24%)
Eliminate Fall Break: 253 (2.48%)

Declined Ballots: 37 (0.36%)

10,205 (29.99%) students voted in this ballot.

Question 2

Note: Single Transferable Vote (STV) was used to calculate this ballot as quota was not met in the first round. For information on ranked voting and STV, see feds.ca/elections/voting-process.

Round 0: Candidate Chosen for Elimination: Extend Orientation programming. Votes for “Extend Orientation programming” are redistributed using second choices.

Continue current Orientation programming format: 4518 (59.10%)
Shorten Orientation programming: 2596 (33.96%)
Extend Orientation programming: this option was eliminated in second round of STV.

In the second round, voters whose first option was now eliminated had their second ranked option counting as their first ranked choice.  For information on ranked voting and STV, see feds.ca/elections/voting-process.

Declined Ballots: 225 (2.94%)

7645 (22.47%) students voted in this ballot.

Question 3

Prioritize Fall Break: 6632 (85.62%)
Prioritize Orientation: 353 (8.97%)
No Opinion: 353 (4.56%)

Declined Ballots: 66 (.85%)

7746 (22.77%) students voted in this ballot.

So what does this mean for you?

It means we will now advocate to the University Senate to implement a full-week Fall Break pilot, and Feds President Richard Wu will cast his Senate vote in favour of a full-week Fall Break pilot.

Should the University Senate vote in favour of a full-week Fall Break pilot, it would be implemented in 2019.

Students also expressed that they do not want to see changes made to the current Orientation programming format, but would prioritize implementing a full-week Fall Break pilot if there is a conflict between the two.

We will provide progress updates on this issue, so stay tuned!