Despite last semester’s Student Government Association senate decision to allow on-line elections, the SGA 2000 Election Commission decided not to use them in the 2000 election.
“Election Day isn’t the time for trial runs,” said Emily Ebsworth, SGA 2000 Election Commissioner.
In the Election Commission’s statement to the senate, it cited several issues for their decision.
The extra expense it would take to administer on-line voting as well as the lack of advertising for the option were two reasons listed. They also questioned its worth in an election of four contested seats.
The commission also said that the location of polling places across campus allows for better access to voting.
The commission wants “as many people to vote as possible,” but fears a system failure that would result in people not caring enough to go to a polling place.
The final reason warned that if on-line voting created any flukes or big mistakes, the entire election would have to be redone, making it a major waste of money, time and effort.
Ebsworth explained that the decision was made in ample time to allow the senate to express its objections.
Brian Suda, SGA Director of Communications and Technology, said technology was available for on-line voting.
He explained that it was a five-stage process. First, a program would generate a unique password for each student, which would be sent to every student. On the web, a program would recognize each name and password and create a screen with voting options. Finally, a program would tally the votes received on-line.
“On-line voting eliminates all possibility of students voting for multiple schools and residence halls,” added Suda. “It can only become more fair.”
Original plans included the development of a separate website for the election but budgetary constraints restricted it.
Phil Lyons, director of student life, felt this was not the best year to host the on-line voting. “I told Jay that if there aren’t many running, I’m not going to recommend the on-line voting,” Lyons said. “My job is to put together an incident-free election.”
During the SGA meeting last night, SGA President Jay Perry said, “I respect the commission’s decision, but I can’t say I’m not disappointed.
