What is a referendum?

What is a referendum? A referendum is a direct vote in which all undergraduate students at the University of Waterloo are invited to accept or reject a particular proposal or decision. The referendum process ensures that the decision reflects the preferences and beliefs of the majority of WUSA membership. Further information and a brief video introduction to what a referendum is can be found on the WUSA Referendum Webpage. Examples of past referendums include the Legal Service and GRT UPASS Referendum (2019), and the Fall Break Referendum (2018).

WUSA’s referendum have an established process set out in the Elections and Referendum Procedure. This procedure outlines how referendums are started, the creation of a “Yes” committee in favour of the referendum and a “No” committee in opposition to it, and the rules that said committees must follow when campaigning. A referendum can be initiated by either the Board of Directors or brought forward by students as a petition, with signatures from 10% or more of WUSA’s membership. These signatures are required to be submitted to WUSA’s Chief Returning Officer (CRO) who verifies the validity of the signatures and ensures that the 10% mark has been surpassed.

This addendum provides extra details, update that were not included in the initial set of rules. It is intended to ensure that the Election and Referenda Policy are comprehensive, transparent and up to date addressing new issues that have arisen since the original procedures were established: ERP Addendum 2024.

If the referendum is initiated by students who identify a student concern on campus and collect the necessary 10% of signatures, it then can go to the Board of Directors. The Board vets the submission, asks questions, and once satisfied, passes it to the Elections and Referendum Committee (ERC). From there, the ERC formulates question(s) based on the initial petition’s spirit, and the questions are sent back to the Board for final approval. Once approved, a timeline for campaigning and voting is created and the referendum is put into motion. An in-depth explainer video can be found on the WUSA Referendum Webpage.

During the voting period, all undergraduate students will have the opportunity to cast their ballots, either for or against the referendum at vote.wusa.ca. After the voting period, the votes will be tallied, and the Board will move forward will the next steps as determined by the results!