Option 3 has won the vote in the supplemental exam fees and modular billing preferendum, receiving 1,208 numbers of votes 34.47% of the total valid poll. Option 3 read: “TCDSU should not support the introduction of supplemental exam fees but should advocate for modular billing.” Total valid poll was 3,504,
Option 2 received 883 votes, with Options 4, 1, and 5 receiving 771, 581 and 61 votes, respectively. 155 votes, or just over 4% of the votes, were spoiled.
The preferendum used a first past the post system, meaning that the option with the most number of votes was declared the winner.
The decision to hold the preferendum was taken at a Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Council on January 23. Education Officer Alice MacPherson said that “even as a sabbatical officer,” she did not feel that she had enough authority to make a decision on behalf of the students and wanted to put it to a vote.
In a poll done by Trinity News prior to the election, 17.1% of students considered themselves to be “well informed” on the preferendum, with 17.9% saying they were not at all informed. 36.5% said they were partially informed, while 28.5% said they were poorly informed.
Additional reporting by Niamh Lynch.
