Ballot system debate continues
With Student Senate elections completed, questions remain about paper and online voting
McLean Bennett
Issue date: 4/20/09 Section: Campus News
With 1,445 students voting in last week's Student Senate race - more than twice the number of students who voted in the previous paper-ballot election two years ago - some excitement over voter participation this year may have been expected.
"I would suggest, for paper ballots, this has actually been a great turnout," outgoing Senate Parliamentarian Abou Amara said on Tuesday, about halfway through the election.
But overall sentiment among Senate members about going back to the old-fashioned ballot system was mixed. Despite showing a marked turnout jump since the previous papered election two years ago, this year's turnout still didn't match up to last year's online race. More than 2,500 voters participated in last spring's election, which at 26 percent of the student population, marked the best voter turnout since the spring of 1972, according to Senate election records.
The drop off from last year's election left some Senate members wary about just how well next year's president and vice president will actually represent students. Garnering a winning 607 votes, incoming student body president and vice president, Michael Umhoefer The drop off from last year's election left some Senate members wary about just how well next year's president and vice president will actually represent students. Garnering a winning 607 votes, incoming student body president and vice president, Michael Umhoefer and Amber Bretl, will represent roughly 6 percent of the student body. The student population this semester stands at about 9,947.
Compare that to last year's election, in which 1,201 people - or about 12 percent of the student population - cast ballots for the winning Tim Lauer-Meghan Charlier ticket.
Even before last week's election results were in, at least one outgoing senator, Gretchen Mauel, was already predicting the implications of a lowered voter turnout.
Mauel said, as she worked the polls Wednesday, that an estimated 1,000 votes had been cast at that point - "but that's still only about 10 percent of the student population," she said.
"I would suggest, for paper ballots, this has actually been a great turnout," outgoing Senate Parliamentarian Abou Amara said on Tuesday, about halfway through the election.
But overall sentiment among Senate members about going back to the old-fashioned ballot system was mixed. Despite showing a marked turnout jump since the previous papered election two years ago, this year's turnout still didn't match up to last year's online race. More than 2,500 voters participated in last spring's election, which at 26 percent of the student population, marked the best voter turnout since the spring of 1972, according to Senate election records.
The drop off from last year's election left some Senate members wary about just how well next year's president and vice president will actually represent students. Garnering a winning 607 votes, incoming student body president and vice president, Michael Umhoefer The drop off from last year's election left some Senate members wary about just how well next year's president and vice president will actually represent students. Garnering a winning 607 votes, incoming student body president and vice president, Michael Umhoefer and Amber Bretl, will represent roughly 6 percent of the student body. The student population this semester stands at about 9,947.
Compare that to last year's election, in which 1,201 people - or about 12 percent of the student population - cast ballots for the winning Tim Lauer-Meghan Charlier ticket.
Even before last week's election results were in, at least one outgoing senator, Gretchen Mauel, was already predicting the implications of a lowered voter turnout.
Mauel said, as she worked the polls Wednesday, that an estimated 1,000 votes had been cast at that point - "but that's still only about 10 percent of the student population," she said.
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