Proxy votes at last Thursday’s UTSU annual general meeting were subject to last-minute and discretionary decisions. The majority of UTM’s votes at the meeting came from proxies.

Proxy forms allow students who can’t attend a meeting to designate a representative. The UTSU website gives the location where forms can be picked up, but does not specify who can sign off on them. According to Adnan Najmi, UTSU’s VP internal and services, a union executive or staff member must number the forms and sign off on them once they are returned. One student can hold up to 10 proxies.

There is no late policy for proxy forms and it is at the VP internal services’ discretion to decide what to do with forms that are late or fail to arrive.

Proxy forms for the AGM were both received and returned late. They were due from UTM on Nov. 16 and 5 p.m., but weren’t delivered to the UTM student union until 5:30 p.m. that day. Najmi gave UTMSU a one-day extension to return the forms.

“The UTSU director who was given the task to take the proxies [sic] forms to UTM got sick and unfortunately failed to inform me that he could not deliver the forms,” Najmi wrote in an email. “I heard about the forms on the Monday the forms were due. It was my decision to increase the deadline for UTM proxies.”

UTMSU executive director Mohammed Hashim also made a last-minute change over the distribution of proxies. The UTSU website instructed students to go to room 115 in the Student Centre, run by office administrator Linda Feener. Feener said her office did not hand out or receive any proxies. Nor was she informed of the changes or required to count or verify the accuracy of the proxy forms—her responsibility for UTM’s own AGM, which took place last Wednesday.

According to UTMSU president Joey Santiago, while some forms were given to Feener, the rest were given to campaigns co-ordinator Dhananjai Kholi in room 100. Both offices are run by UTMSU. Both Hashim and Kohli declined to comment for this article.

Kholi was given full authority to distribute and sign the forms. They were faxed back to the UTSU office at 12 Hart House Circle instead of the usual hand-delivery. “[The faxes] were excepted [sic] in good faith as true copies of the original forms,” wrote Najmi in an email.

Santiago said UTM students had about 253 votes at the AGM, of which 230 were proxies through 27 forms. Most St. George students at the meeting did not have the maximum number of proxies allowed. Najmi said St. George had over 93 students with 27 carrying proxies and did not respond with the specific number of votes. The forms have been destroyed. “Forms are shredded once the AGM is over due to confidential student information on those forms,” Najmi said.

In an editorial on Monday, Alain Latour, editor-in-chief of UTM student paper The Medium, raised the issue of transparency in the proxy collection process. Latour argued that UTSU and UTMSU execs have too much control over proxy distribution and collection, questioning Kholi’s authority to oversee the process independent of Feener and why the proxies were destroyed immediately.

UTM has seen allegations of proxy mismanagement before. Last year, The Medium reported accusations that UTMSU executives distributed nameless and signed proxy forms to students prior to their AGM, filling out many of the names and student numbers themselves to ensure they had enough votes to pass their own motions. At UTSU’s AGM this year, no special motions were put to a vote. Business consisted of routine matters such as passing the budget, approving last year’s minutes, and approving the appointment of auditors for this year’s budget.

On two occasions, speaker Ashkon Hameshi noticed students holding up voting cards that belonged to others who had left the meeting.

“I notice students holding up voting cards that are not theirs—and you know who you are. If you do it again, you’ll be asked to leave.”

After a quick break during the AGM, Hashemi noted that quorum was maintained “by the slimmest of margins” with only 76 votes present. Seventy-five votes are required for quorum, of which 50 must come from students present.