Election results stand, revote denied
After problems with online voting system, Student Senate holds election results
Nicole Strittmater
Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: News
Student Senate voted 11-14-2 Monday night against holding a paper ballot re-election for the presidential and vice presidential candidates Wednesday through Friday of this week.
After an online election last week that president Ray French said compromised the integrity of the results, Senate debated for two and a half hours on whether it would be in the best interest for students to revote.
In the end, most Senators agreed with the elections committee's decision against a revote.
"We did not feel that a fair election could be held, because there's been so much rumor," said Christina Hansen, the Parliamentarian and one of three members of the committee. "It's not really fair to candidates who would or would not be able to campaign because of the short notice."
Voters followed a link sent to them via email last week in the first electronic voting general election. But several glitches in the WebSurvey system and questionable campaign tactics on both sides raised serious issues about whether the process was fair.
Presidential elect Tim Lauer and vice presidential re-elect Meghan Charlier won with 1,201 votes, while hopefuls Emily Mattheisen and Caroline Wee received 1,177.
Information Technology Director Aaron Brewster motioned for the re-election.
"From the beginning of this, I had come to the conclusion that online voting was a bad idea. I was very disappointed to see the way that the situation was handled by darn near everyone," he said.
Organizations Commission Director Nick Goffard also strongly urged a re-election.
"We don't know what happened. We don't know who couldn't vote," he said. "I can't go through this session knowing that the students might have been cheated out or people's voices weren't heard that wanted to be heard. I think we all deserve the benefit of a doubt."
Student Services Commission Director Katya Voelker said she didn't think there was enough time to campaign for a re-election, and new senators need time to learn the ropes before the semester ends.
After an online election last week that president Ray French said compromised the integrity of the results, Senate debated for two and a half hours on whether it would be in the best interest for students to revote.
In the end, most Senators agreed with the elections committee's decision against a revote.
"We did not feel that a fair election could be held, because there's been so much rumor," said Christina Hansen, the Parliamentarian and one of three members of the committee. "It's not really fair to candidates who would or would not be able to campaign because of the short notice."
Voters followed a link sent to them via email last week in the first electronic voting general election. But several glitches in the WebSurvey system and questionable campaign tactics on both sides raised serious issues about whether the process was fair.
Presidential elect Tim Lauer and vice presidential re-elect Meghan Charlier won with 1,201 votes, while hopefuls Emily Mattheisen and Caroline Wee received 1,177.
Information Technology Director Aaron Brewster motioned for the re-election.
"From the beginning of this, I had come to the conclusion that online voting was a bad idea. I was very disappointed to see the way that the situation was handled by darn near everyone," he said.
Organizations Commission Director Nick Goffard also strongly urged a re-election.
"We don't know what happened. We don't know who couldn't vote," he said. "I can't go through this session knowing that the students might have been cheated out or people's voices weren't heard that wanted to be heard. I think we all deserve the benefit of a doubt."
Student Services Commission Director Katya Voelker said she didn't think there was enough time to campaign for a re-election, and new senators need time to learn the ropes before the semester ends.
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