On January 9, the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) held an emergency Board of Directors (BOD) meeting, where executives reviewed the student-submitted motions that were tabled during the 2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Each of the three motions — focused on online voting, ACORN performance, and Wi-Fi reliability — was first amended, then approved. The UTMSU’s progress on the motions will be discussed again at the next AGM.

From “adopt online voting” to “investigate hybrid voting model”

One motion called for the UTMSU to adopt online voting for all elections and referendums. Specifically, they would use Simply Voting, an online voting platform used by the UTSG student union. The UTMSU ran out of time to discuss this motion at the AGM.

UTMSU President Andrew Park was against this proposal, and expressed that in-person voting “encourages candidates to be on the board and actually [reach out] to students.” Park added that in-person voting encourages participation, since many students ignore emails in their inboxes. 

Park suggested an alternative hybrid voting model, like what the York Student Union uses. “Rather than just receiving an email, it’s an online polling station where students join on Zoom and present their key card and have their votes verified that way. I think that also allows for privacy and actually gets the student engaged in the election process.”

Park struck some of the clauses in the motion, including the one that asked for the UTMSU to specifically use Simply Voting. The motion was also amended from “adopt online voting” to “investigate hybrid voting model” for elections. 

Vice President (VP) University Affairs Manaal Fatima spoke in support of the amendment, agreeing with Park that in-person voting allows time for voters to talk to candidates and decreases the risk of peer pressure. Fatima also added, “There isn‘t that much security with online voting like itself… anyone can just take their friend’s phone and fill out the form themselves… How can you ensure that that’s not happening?”

It is unclear if Fatima was referring to Simply Voting, which integrates UTORid, so students must log in to their account before voting. 

The amended motion carried.

ACORN and Quercus accessibility and performance

Another motion discussed requested that the UTMSU lobby for improved ACORN accessibility and performance during periods of high activity, such as course enrollment times.

VP Internal Owen Zhang noted that he had “asked around,” and everyone he spoke to said that they had been impacted by ACORN’s connection issues.  

Zhang added that in his sociology class, he has taken online tests that have reset midway. Members of the UTMSU noted that this would require improvements to Quercus, not ACORN, which was outside the scope of this motion. 

As a result, members voted to amend the initial motion to include improving Quercus accessibility and performance. The new amended motion carried.

Wi-Fi and cell service reliability

The other motion discussed asked the UTMSU to lobby to improve Wi-Fi reliability across campus.

One board member shared how they experience the most connection problems at the William G. Davis Building, declaring that the changeroom is “like a nuclear bunker, there’s no signal.” 

One member noted that connection problems are also about student safety, such as an emergency in the gym locker rooms, “you can’t even call anyone, then you’re kind of toast.”

The motion was amended to include the UTMSU also advocating for improved cell phone service on campus, and was carried.