During the SGA elections on March 10 and March 11, there won’t just be paper ballots – Loyola students will also be voting for their new Student Government Association president via Blackboard.
“SGA always wanted to have electronic voting. No one had taken the time to set it up,” said sociology sophomore Chad Carson, SGA director of technology.
“In previous years there had been software used at the polling station. The provost’s office would not allow SGA to use it this year because the software was used for various research proposes. It would be a security risk. SGA had a mock election to test electronic voting on Blackboard,” he said.
Many students seem to approve of this new system, and think it will draw in more voters.
“I am likely to vote because I’m on Blackboard a lot for school,” Abby Gordon, general business sophomore, said. “I think more people will vote because it is easier, and you can do it from the comfort of your own home.”
Some students think the new system encourages students to vote because of the program’s accessibility.
“I think it is a good idea because more students can vote. This is especially good for commuters because everyone has access to Blackboard,” Maria Patselikos, English literature sophomore, said. “It encourages people to vote who would more than likely not vote.”
“It will allow more students to have the opportunity to have their voices heard. It makes the voting process more accurate, which is of paramount importance as Loyola is at a turning point. It offers students to have the opportunity to vote who are otherwise excluded due to time constraints and off-campus residence,” said political science junior and presidential candidate Cade Cypriano, chief of staff.
Some students forsee problems.
“I think it will increase voter turnout but also increase the number of uninformed voters. Also, more people may vote on a whim. There may be problems with students campaigning for a candidate to ask other students in the library to log on their Blackboard accounts to vote for a specific candidate,” Cole Adams, mass communication senior, said.
SGA representatives hope future administrations will carry on electronic voting using a program other than Blackboard.
“We’re using Blackboard this year for the elections because we didn’t want to invest in expensive electronic voting software without first seeing how the students react to an electronic election,” Carson said. “We’re hoping that future SGA staffs will invest in separate electronic voting software that will provide a more interactive and easier voting experience for them.”
Another addition to the elections this spring is the election board. Last year one person oversaw election violations. This year there will be a five-person board. Alex Fossey, economics senior, Juley Thuy Le, finance senior, Casey Trahan, political science senior and Ramon Vargas, mass communication junior and former Maroon editor, have all been appointed to the board. Both. Antoinette Spillers, political science senior, is the Commissioner of Elections.
Lee Hudson can be reached at [email protected].
