Formal Research Proposal – Zainab Rauf Tramboo

To: Dr. Erika Paterson

From: Zainab Rauf Tramboo

Date: June 19^th, 2020

Subject: Proposal for increasing student voter turnout for UBC AMS general elections

Introduction

The University of British Columbia (UBC) pertaining to its high university ranking and large student population, has an established Alma Mater Society (AMS). The AMS represents over fifty thousand students each year over the course of 4-5 years. The executives (student presidents) of AMS ensure that the needs of students are met by the University Administration and the Provincial and Federal governments. The UBC AMS general elections are annual elections held for students to democratically vote for the AMS executives and annual referendums. However, the extremely low student voter turnout rate in UBC concerns the student wellbeing and the standing of AMS as a student body.

Statement of Problem

While UBC and its Alma Mater Society (AMS) have made efforts in encouraging students to come out the vote (allowing wide-scale marketing throughout campus in terms of letting campaigners give a speech in lectures, posting posters, rallies, networking events, mass UBC emails, articles, funding campaigning segment through AMS etc.), the results have not been positive. From 2014-2019, student voter turnout has ranged between a low 20-21%. This is like trying to play a basketball game where only one team member shows up. Furthermore, while acknowledging the pandemic, in 2020 the turnout was 11.6%.

Proposed Solution

There are many methods of increasing student voter turnout. The UBC & AMS administration has already implemented numerous of these methods. However, these existing methods need to further backed up by more incentives, new methods need to be introduced and methods that have not worked out need to be reasoned out. A proposed solution would be to have professors allocate ending five minutes of their lectures to allow students to vote for the AMS elections via their devices just like students are asked to fill in teaching evaluations in lectures. The success in having an applicable number of students who fill out teaching evaluations could be replicated into the AMS election voter turnout. Other solutions that could be looked into are; educating students on the importance of voting via videos, in-class speeches, and encouraging campaigners to mention it while campaigning/marketing, having schedules for major an on-campus debates between competitors in student areas i.e. Student Nest, or having multiple ballots in every possible UBC building based on distance rather on just the number of student presence.

Scope

To identify previous methods that need improvement and to discover new methods of encouraging students to vote etc., the following are some of the questions that need to be answered:

• What does UBC & AMS administration already do well in their efforts of motivating students to come out and vote?
• What kind of events would students like to see to make the AMS elections seem interesting and worth taking part in?
• How are on-campus fraternities able to generate large voter turnout?
• Where do students think are the areas of improvement for larger AMS voter turnout? What would incentivise them?
• Why are students unlikely to vote for AMS elections?
• Where (what venue) are students most likely to attend events?
• Where (what venue) are students most likely to always pass by?
• Would having multiple ballots encourage students/to remind students to vote?
• Where do the previous campaigners feel they could have improved/ lacked in order to motive students to vote?
• What social media platforms & physical forms of marketing are being used to market the elections?
• Would a detailed workshop teaching campaigners “how to campaign” help teach them betters ways of encouraging students to vote?
• What sort of training is already being received by campaigners?
• What are the demographics of the students voting the most to least (university year, major etc.)?
• What resources on campus are already available to students for voting?

Methods

To collect the data, I plan on conducting two separate surveys. The first survey will be for previous campaigners & the newly elected student body (UBC AMS Executives). I will distribute the survey across my network in the AMS student body (via Facebook etc.). The second survey will be for the general student population at UBC. To collect as much data possible I will use UBC student platforms i.e. UBC Reddit, Facebook annual batch pages, The Calendar, and AMS Events. In order to conduct more in-depth, I will also conduct interviews with my roommates & UBC students in the Dunbar southland neighbourhood (while maintaining social distancing due to the pandemic restrictions). The interviews will be conducted by asking questions similar to the second survey.

My Qualifications

As a former three year member and 2019 Vice President of Analytics of UBC Red Cross, one of the largest and most active clubs of AMS, working with the AMS, being part of its network, and being up to date with its happenings, is not new to me. I have also continuously contributed to many UBC student platforms such as the Ubyssey and The Global Lounge, which are both in ties with the AMS. Thus, working on projects regarding this subject matter would not pose a big challenge. Although I am not an expert when it comes to this research question, I have always taken an active part in the UBC student community and so I am highly motivated to research for answers that will better student life. I also have many friends in my network who are directly involved with AMS elections and other student elections.

Conclusion

University life is one of the most crucial experiences of young adults. It is the transformation that forms the path forward in life as responsible, aware, and cautious human beings. Taking part in student elections in order to be able to have a say in the needs and rights as students is a salient step to having a prosperous university experience. This being said, it is crucial that the students are encouraged to take part in AMS elections and are made aware of referendums, changes, and movements at university. AMS executives and UBC administration have to make the conscious effort to convey the purpose and importance of the AMS elections to students. I look forward to launching this project with your approval. It is my intention to provide a solution that will motivate students to come out and vote. With your approval, I will begin research at once.