The Carillon investigates the reasons behind reduced turnout
Fewer than 500 students vote
The December 2025 elections that replaced the University of Regina Students’ Union (URSU) with the University of Regina Students’ Association (URSA) saw a low voter turnout.
Students were informed of the results of the elections via an email sent out by Students Affairs on Dec. 16. According to the email, 442 students voted “yes” for the decision to replace URSU with URSA and 42 voted “no” bringing the total voter turnout number to 484. This represents a voter turnout of roughly 3 percent, based on the university’s enrollment of 17,000 students.
The Carillon talked with students and people with URSA to find out why the voting numbers were so low.
Awareness and timing issues
“I personally didn’t know anything about the election, which is why I didn’t vote,” said Kale Horath, a first year science major. Horath said he believed URSA’s lack of campaigning was the reason they failed to draw the attention that they desired.
I personally didn’t know anything about the election, which is why I didn’t vote.” – Kale Horath, student, U of R
Lack of student interest and trust
Many students who were asked about the election said that they weren’t interested in voting. Many believed that distrust in the new student group may have played a role in low turnout.
“I get the impression that students might not feel comfortable, or at least, they are unsure of what to expect from the new association,” said graduate student Kiegan Lloyd. Lloyd, who was on the board of directors for URSU in 2019-2020, said that there is a lot of work to be done if the new association hopes to get students on-board. He recalled that during his time with URSU, getting students to vote in an URSU election was always tough due to student apathy.
“It was tough to get students interested in what the union can do for them, but for some, if it doesn’t directly benefit them, they simply won’t want to vote,” he said.
Lloyd believes that the students have every right to be apprehensive of the new students’ association given their experience with the former union. “The trust is broken as of now,” he said.
Lloyd emphasized that URSA must work on rebuilding trust with the students above everything. Like that of any students’ union, he said that the objective must be to make the students’ experience better and advocate for change if need be.
He sympathized with URSA and acknowledged that the task they have ahead of them is a difficult one. “Given the mess that URSU has left behind, I sympathize with the new members and wish them all the best,” he said.
I get the impression that students might not feel comfortable, or at least, they are unsure of what to expect from the new association.” – Kiegan Lloyd, graduate student, U of R.
Comments from URSA
When the Carillon asked URSA’s interim team about their thoughts regarding the election, they pinpointed a few reasons as to why there were so few voters.
Ella Gidluck, interim vice president, internal affairs, said that the election took place at the same time as exams season which she thought wasn’t great timing.
Matthew McStravick, interim president and Ben Alexander, interim vice president, external affairs, hope to have a better outreach plan and a better voter turnout for URSA’s first general election which is to take place in Mar. 2026.
