Senate elections up and running; new electronic ballots provided
Published March 17, 2008
A new election ballot is available for students hoping to vote for next year's MSA Senate. The new ballot was created after functionality problems were discovered at 6 p.m. when the election began Monday.
When ballots were e-mailed to students Monday evening, they lacked instructions about how to vote for more than one candidate. Students needed to hold down a control button on their keyboards to vote for more than one person. The new ballots have boxes next to names for students to vote more easily for more than one candidate if allowed in their school or college.
BEC chairman Geoffrey Grammer said voting was halted Monday night while the BEC worked with the Division of Information Technology to remedy the problem; however, MSA adviser Farouk Aregbe said voting never stopped and the new ballot went live around 9:15 p.m. Aregbe said anyone who voted before the new ballot was made available would receive an e-mail Tuesday morning telling them to recast their votes.
Senate Speaker Jonathan Mays said he is frustrated with the BEC because he says the ballot should have been better tested before it was sent. Mays filed legislation at about 7 p.m. that would mandate official testing of the electronic ballots. Mays said Senate would consider the bill at its meeting Wednesday night.
Aregbe said the ballot had been tested last year when the first Senate elections after restructuring occurred. He said the first ballots released Monday technically allowed students to vote for more than one candidate, however the new ballots provide easier use for students to cast votes.
BEC vice chairman Ian Krause said the BEC will provide paper ballots for students having trouble accessing electronic ballots from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday in Brady Commons.
Voting ends at 6 p.m. Wednesday.