Students have voted to fund a new student centre with a levy starting next summer.

Nearly 3,100 votes were cast in the referendum, according to an UTSU news release, which added that the results were awaiting confi rmation of voter eligibility before being ratified.

Unofficially, UTSU reported that 1789 students voted “yes,” 1205 voted “no” and 78 ballots were spoiled.

Despite complaints by some that the “yes” campaign advertised excessively, some students were yet unaware that there was a referendum being held.

Manorah Pais, a fi rst-year Engineering student, said that she saw the posters but had no idea what the referendum was actually about. She also claimed that while announcements were made about the referendum well in advance of the election in many arts and science classes, the topic was only breached in fi rstyear engineering classes on the last day of voting. Similarly, while Sidney Smith Hall was the site of aggressive campaigning from both sides, Pais said that there was no information in or around the Engineering complex.

No matter what the result is, or could have been, this has been a campaign and an issue fraught with controversies, problems, and allegations. It remains to be seen whether further complaints will be bought against any parties and what the consequences of such actions will be.

UTSU president Andréa Armborst has called the APUS-led “no” campaign an “illegitimate interference and campaign of falsehoods” and claimed APUS’s possible eviction from its current location has nothing to do with the Student Commons.

For its own part, the “yes” campaign received demerit points for misconduct in the referendum, after Gail Alivio, the chief returning offi cer, for the referendum ruled that they breached UTSU’s charter for referenda when they placed a banner within sight of a polling station.