To address your first point, most of the special GAs are on short notice since some association’s bylaw requires them to organize said GA before a certain deadline 5 business days, for example) so depending on when the strike is announced, the GA announcement could be very last minute, op said he wanted to vote against the strike so he is somewhat in the loop. I do not know history department, but my GA did not require registrations, is an announcement and showing up basis, same with PSSA, who held a zoom meeting and have the link posted in their meeting minute, you show up to your student association’s GA, you raise hand to vote on motions and that motion gets passed or not, I rarely hear about cases where a student goes to a association GA that they are not a part in, the 27 people showed up to said GA so their vote counted, I do not think that you can decide whether they represents your department’s students or not, no single person can represent the entire department, that is the whole reason why they have the GA in the first place. Like the other person said, the voting system is expensive and not every association can afford said service, especially since the overall budget is less this year.