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SGA gives nod to electronic voting

By Matt Dulin
The Daily Cougar

If the trend of progress continues, Student Government Association election commissioners say the 2003 elections will be carried out in a way never before seen at UH.

In an emergency meeting Wednesday night, SGA senators ratified a new plan from the 2003 election commission that will make the voting process entirely electronic.

"This is a move to make elections more accurate and more secure," assistant election commissioner Cullen Newsom told the Senate.

In recent years, SGA elections have been plagued by complications in tabulation and have even confronted claims of fraudulent voting, including the claim that students were able to vote more than once.

The new system should prevent such occurrences, Newsom said, though he told the Senate he would make no guarantees until after this yearis votes are tabulated.

Newsom detailed the new election process, which is modeled after the system used by the Faculty Senate last year in its election.

"It will use common, everyday UH PCs. What (voters) will effectively see is a Web page where they will swipe their Cougar (1Card), which will bring them either to an ID confirmation page or direct them to the proper voting page, according to their college," Newsom said.

Newsom stressed that the voting system is not online in the traditional sense. "It will only be accessible at our designated voting sites," he said.

A voter will have to provide their Cougar1Card or know the ISO number and their Social Security Number as identification for the computer system. Newsom assured the Senate that the process would be completely secure in terms of privacy.

Once a student votes, the computer immediately tabulates the information, so when the polls close, results will be available instantly, Newsom said.

"This system was used by the Faculty Senate last year, and it worked perfectly," he said.

The proposal, presented officially to the Senate members present at the meeting by Election Commissioner Shante Brooks, operates on a budget of slightly more than $3,600. The budget includes the cost of Scantrons to use as a redundant voting medium to back up the computerized system. 

If for any reason the new system cannot be put into place, Brooks says the commission will recommend reverting to the Scantron election process.

The proposal was accepted after the list of polling sites was amended. The amended proposal calls for a new site at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center and closing down the proposed site at the College of Technology.

In other business at the meeting, the Senate rejected the presidential nomination of Monica Granger to fill a vacant Senate position.

Sen. David C. Burkley, chairman of the Administration and Finance Committee, led the meeting in the absence of President Dawona Miller and Speaker Jeff Hill. Burkley said Grangeris nomination will likely return to committee and then go before the Senate again.
 

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