For weeks now, my radio and TV have been talking to me about evolution. Really, I feel like I am back in Kansas talking about the apes vs. Adam. But the commercials that include talk about smoke signals, mimes and carrier pigeons culminate in the tag line, “The Internet has evolved. Have you?”
Well, now Saint Louis University can answer, “Yes.” Last night in an SGA meeting that had its share of lively debate, bylaws and statutes were altered to make way for the Student Government’s first “on-line” election day. Candidates from the president’s race to the O’Brien House senator will be chosen by constituents through their WebStar account. The bills brought about a number of changes, with each receiving a healthy dose of discussion over their validity.
The most obvious and drastic change that members of the student body will notice is that you won’t even have to leave your room to vote. On election day, just wake up, walk to your computer and vote. No hair combing, showering or deodorant required. It’s as easy as . well as easy as checking your mid-term grades.
By voting through WebStar, the computer can verify that voters only vote once and that they vote for their representatives. So that way, a member of the School of Public Health won’t be voting for a senator for the School of Arts and Sciences. During last night’s meeting, Election Commissioner Meghan Clune promised the Senate that Information Technology Services has assured that there is no way anyone will be able to hack into the computer and alter the results of the student’s choice.
And for the first time, students spending a part of their college years at the campus in Madrid, Spain, will be able to select the leaders who represent them, and vote on the issues that will affect them upon their return. This is only one of the most drastic enfranchising effects of the change. No longer will students be left out of voting because of their class schedule. Go ahead; skip your Monday class. It doesn’t matter. In between episodes of Jerry Springer and The Simpsons, just log on and vote.
And for candidates and interested parties, no more waiting for election results until the wee hours of Tuesday morning. The results will be here faster than an H&R Block Rapid Refund. So all is well, as we approach the SGA elections.
But there was one more characteristic that showed me how far we have come as Americans in the last year. The SGA meeting had its fair share of the word “Florida” as well. Everyone thought about it at least once. And why not? We were discussing election theory. There were questions asked about who was being left out, should people be left out, and if we were making it impossible for some people to vote. These are questions that face election boards across the nation at least once every two years.
But SGA has updated its system to keep up with technology, and therefore is better prepared to conduct the most fair and honest election possible. During my work at the polls on Election Day in November, some of the election officials and I discussed what options technology offered the current U.S. system. Let’s say the City of St. Louis had on-line systems at the polls. It would allow people to vote anywhere in the city. As soon as their name was checked off at one poll, it would be automatically checked off at all of the polls. On-line registration would decrease the number of registered voters who are mistakenly left off the rolls, which would prevent the situation that existed on election night, which left hundreds outside of the election office without the opportunity to vote.
Yes, it would be difficult and even expensive. But after the confusion, pain and frustration that many felt in November, what excuse could be provided to not pursue better systems. Sure it may seem easy for us to just say, “Well, lightning never strikes twice. The 2004 election won’t be this tough.” But at some point, we will have to improve the ills that made everything about Election Day 2000 wrong. Democracy demands it.
The transition to on-line voting wasn’t easy for some of the senators either. Change is sometimes uncomfortable. But what both African-American Floridians and SLU leaders realized is that the status quo can be even more uncomfortable.
One thing all the senators learned last night is that there is no perfect, flawless way to hold an election. But working with an obsolete processes, or a mixture of obsolete and updated systems, does not help the will of the people become accurately interpreted. SGA has answered the call to improve itself and its systems. The question now is, when will our country follow suit?
