In a move that is being labeled both a bow to technology and an attempt to boost voter turnout, students will be able to cast their ballots online for the Student Government Association (SGA) elections.
Polling opens Friday, April 6 at 9am and the polls close Wednesday, April 11 at 4pm. Results will be posted almost immediately.
Spring elections are for the positions of President, Vice-President, Speaker and ten senate seats, as well as spots on the Northeastern Programming Board (NPB) and the Student Trustee and IBHE-SAC position. There will also be a referendum question on the ballot about renewable energy.
According to SGA President Eron McCormick the new system will be used, “In the hopes of increasing voter turnout.” Votenet is the company providing the online balloting, and their software is being used by the Emmy Awards to tabulate its votes as well. The company also counts West Virginia University as a client.
Director of Student Activities Sharron Evans also hopes the online voting will help turnout and help the university “move with technology.”
The Independent reported that in the 2006 spring election 669 students voted, echoing McCormick’s sentiment about low turnout. The total student population of NEIU was 12,227 at the time of that election, placing turnout at five percent of total students.
When asked how this new system will affect the satellite campuses of NEIU President McCormick stated that, “the online voting would allow for those students who can’t make it into the main campus to vote more conveniently.” The notification of the switch from paper ballots to online voting will be mostly conducted via advertisements and bulletins distributed around NEIU, a mostly “word-of-mouth ad campaign” according to McCormick.
The online voting system has some advantages to the traditional paper balloting done in the past, including quicker vote tabulation.
Every system, however, has its disadvantages. The paper balloting system relied on student IDs being swiped at the completion of voting to ensure no double votes and no fraudulent voting. Votenet’s own literature touts “multiple vote security,” as one of its features.
When asked by the Independent if there was a specific system utilizing student identification numbers as an authentication device, Evans said, “Authentication hasn’t been decided as of yet.”
Go to http://www.neiu.edu/~deptsao/LeadersWanted for candidate statements, information on how to use the online voting process and more.