SGB gives online vote a chance

Pitt students can check their e-mail, order a pizza, download music and now vote for Student… Pitt students can check their e-mail, order a pizza, download music and now vote for Student Government Board members online.

After a one-week delay, SGB voted 4-2 Tuesday to move the November elections online.

Board members Zach Ransom, Monica Higgins, Dilinus Harris and Rebekah Bambling voted in favor of the change, while Liz Blasi and Joe Pasqualichio voted against it.

Board member Jarrod Baker was not present for the vote and Jennifer Anukem abstained.

“It doesn’t make a difference to me whether voting is online or traditional,” Anukem said in an interview Wednesday. “My primary concern is amending the election code accordingly to address new issues from this system.”

The system that SGB will use will be the same as the one that was used for homecoming elections. Students will access it through the my.pitt.edu portal.

“I’m looking at this as an opportunity to tell students that we care about their vote,” board member Higgins said.

The new system will provide voters with a picture of the candidates and access to information about their platforms.

The order in which candidates would appear on the screen would be random and would change when the page was refreshed.

“Online voting will make looks an issue,” board member Pasqualichio said. “Pictures will be nicer online.”

He added, “homecoming does not have the responsibilities SGB does. Students could easily be lined up at a computer with someone supervising their choice.”

Another potential problem with the new system is the voting rights of students with holds on their accounts.

As of now, no student with a hold on his or her account will be able to vote in the elections.

“Right now students with holds cannot vote,” President Brian Kelly said. “This can be a debate for another time. I would like to get the facts straight before we act either way.”

The board members who supported the change to online voting hope to increase voter turnout by making voting more convenient.

“We can’t guarantee that voters are informed now,” Bambling said. “Of course we can’t guarantee that online voting will mean more informed voters. Voting online will make it more convenient, not make people care less.”

Former elections chair Andrew Powers said that the board investigated online voting to increase turnout.

Some students at the meeting disagreed.

“Going out and voting is the American spirit,” Sheila Isong said. “It’s the atmosphere that gets people excited.”

Ransom defended the switch.

“I remember being on the voting end and on the campaigning [end], and it’s fun to go into the booth and pull the lever, but I am more interested in giving more people a chance to vote than the excitement of traditional voting,” he said. “I try to vote for my constituents and they support online voting.”

Pasqualichio, one of only two dissenters, countered.

“We provide a valuable training ground for voters,” he said. “We run like a real government and we should vote like one.”

Members of the board are exploring the option of setting up kiosk polling places, and there appears to be no effort to ban election-day campaigning.

But SGB still has concerns.

“We still don’t have an elections chair and we don’t have any rules in place,” Blasi said. “I am for the feeling of a real election. I support using kiosks to vote.”

Powers created a vacancy in the elections committee when he left his chair to concentrate on academic responsibilities. Before leaving, Powers worked on revising the elections code and investigating online voting.

“We went to Georgetown on the day of their elections and we talked to people about how they felt about their election system,” Powers said in an interview. “The students were really happy with the convenience of online voting and the administrators were also pleased.”

“Pitt already has a secure network to run the elections, so it makes sense that we move in this direction,” he added.

Powers pointed out that only 15 percent of students voted last year and only 10 percent voted the year before.

“We are far below the national average,” he said.

Kelly said in addressing security issues that the same safety measures for online billing, grades and other student information would be in place for the elections.

“If we have to create a secret police to stop widespread coercion we will do it,” he said. “I feel confident that they would be able to detect and deal with compromises. There are always going to be ways to cheat, but I have faith in the Pitt students.”