EDITORIAL – Online voting raises SGB election concerns

At 8 p.m., on the sixth floor of the William Pitt Union, Student Government Board members… At 8 p.m., on the sixth floor of the William Pitt Union, Student Government Board members will vote on the upcoming SGB elections. The issue at stake — whether students will vote in the traditional fashion (in booths around campus) or online — is one that concerns the entire student body. While there are definite advantages to online voting, there are a number of issues that SGB needs to address before switching to this new system.

For students who live off campus or commute to school, getting to a voting booth during the appropriate hours can be difficult. A special trip to campus just to cast a ballot is, for many, not a priority. Allowing students to vote from their home computers could certainly increase voter turnout. Students studying abroad would also be enfranchised.

While online voting would bring a measure of convenience to the elections, it also would allow for greater abuse of the system. Without a paper trail to back up the election’s outcome, safeguards need to be put in place to ensure that no one hacks into the program, and that the announced winners did in fact receive the most votes.

Those involved in the Greek system normally make up a large percentage of voting students. While they may be under pressure from their various houses to vote for specific candidates, under the current system they are guaranteed anonymity as they pull the lever. If voting takes place at a computer monitor, there is nothing stopping the heads of Pitt’s sororities and fraternities from watching over the shoulders of their sisters and brothers. This sort of enforced groupthink would severely compromise the integrity of the election process.

Another block of students that may be locked out of voting should it go online is those with holds on their accounts. It remains unclear if this will be part of the online procedure. If a student has an overdue book at the library, will they be barred from the election?

Students who do not care enough to cast a vote in person may decide to vote online — on the surface, this would be a good thing. However, there would be nothing stopping them from choosing a candidate based on their picture, not their platforms. Casual voting is worse than no voting at all.

The main issue with SGB elections, though, is not how the ballots will actually be cast. The move to the Internet is indicative of a larger problem: most students can’t be bothered to vote. As much attention as SGB garners in the weeks leading up to the elections, once a new board is in place, its members recede from the public eye.

Unless students can actually see the advantages of one candidate over another, they have no reason to vote in the first place. Until SGB becomes a visible aspect of campus life year round, most students will have little interest in voting, no matter how convenient the election process is.