WEBBTIDE 2001-2002 @ SHORELINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Volume 37 No.16 May. 24 - Jun. 06, 2002 [ ARCHIVE ] [ FEEDBACK ] [ HELP ]
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Elections see 1.9 percent of students vote, lowest turn out in over 20 years

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      Despite efforts to promote student involvement in student body elections this spring, poll results showed an all time low in voter turn out during the two day voting period held May 7 and 8. Although this year's election featured a new online voting system with enhanced security, only 156 total votes were registered, which is equal to 1.9 percent of the student body population.
      SBA Legislative Director Delores Madrid, Senator Elect Parker Wong and Vice President of Technology Jack Hanson helped develop the new online voting software for the elections. The software, provides a time sensitive link on the College's web site that directs students to a page allowing them to vote online, giving students access to voting from any computer.
      While the voting link on the site was highly visible the link granting students access to their newly issued Student ID (SID) numbers went unnoticed by most students. Unfortunately, this caused confusion for most students since having a new SID was mandatory to vote.
      The software is one of the first in the nation of its kind. It gives students access to voting on any computer that is online, and has several security enhancements over previous voting software used by the College. Votes are stored in an encrypted format so the information cannot be accessed through the server they are stored on. This helps prevent hacking into the server to tamper with voting results.
      "The one key benefit for the students is that it allows for only one vote for each student," said Hanson. In previous elections students could get away with voting more than one time, altering the results of the elections. The higher level of security and ease of use has other area community colleges interested in purchasing the software.
      Both Madrid and SBA Vice President Tina Cich attribute the low voter turnout to confusion about the new SIDs. Cich also cited low club member voting and student lack of knowledge about how student government works as being other reasons for poor voting numbers. "By publicizing student government itself and what it does then people will see how it effects them and they will become more interested and want to vote," Cich said.
      Madrid, who also served as the election chair, posted approximately 400 stickers on computer terminals in labs across campus encouraging students to vote. Many of the stickers were either tampered with or removed from the terminals by lab users after the first day of voting.
      Hanson, on the other hand, spent over 140 hours developing the software at his home and holds the copyright on the software. Because local community colleges are interested in purchasing the software, Hanson has agreed to sign over the copyright to the College so the College will be able to make a profit off of the licensing agreements. Hanson stated that other community colleges have discussed cost for developing similar software, which rages from $4,000 to $15,000.
      According to Cich, SBA vice president, if the College were to arrange a licensing agreement with other schools they would also have to provide tech support and a warranty on the software as a part of the licensing agreement. Pierce, Highline and Big Bend Community Colleges were mentioned as being interested in purchasing the software. Currently there are no specific plans to license the software to other schools.
      Hanson labeled the software as being "A great mechanism for increasing the student population's voting levels."
      Scott Saunders, director of student programs, stated that the voter turn out of only 156 students was the lowest turn out that he has seen in over 20 years at the College. In May of 2000, the SBA President Elect, Jacob English, won the election with 138 total votes; 18 votes less than the total ballots cast for this year's election.
      Saunders mentioned several ideas for increasing student interest in future SBA elections including: Increasing the number of voting kiosks on campus and the possibility of wireless on-line voting through the use of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs).

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by Travis Hay

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Elections see 1.9 percent of students vote, lowest turn out in over 20 years
.	Despite efforts to promote student involvement in student body elections this spring, poll results showed an all time low in voter turn out during the two day voting period held May 7 and 8. Although this year's election featured a new online voting system with enhanced security, only 156 total votes were registered, which is equal to 1.9 percent of the student body population. SBA Legislative Director Delores Madrid, Senator Elect Parker Wong and Vice President of Technology Jack Hanson helped develop the new online voting software for the elections. The software, provides a time sensitive link on the College's web site that directs students to a page allowing them to vote online, giving students access to voting from any computer. While the voting link on the site was highly visible the link granting students access to their newly issued Student ID (SID) numbers went unnoticed by most students. Unfortunately, this caused confusion for most students since having a new SID was mandatory to vote. The software is one of the first in the nation of its kind. It gives students access to voting on any computer that is online, and has several security enhancements over previous voting software used by the College. Votes are stored in an encrypted format so the information cannot be accessed through the server they are stored on. This helps prevent hacking into the server to tamper with voting results. "The one key benefit for the students is that it allows for only one vote for each student," said Hanson. In previous elections students could get away with voting more than one time, altering the results of the elections. The higher level of security and ease of use has other area community colleges interested in purchasing the software. Both Madrid and SBA Vice President Tina Cich attribute the low voter turnout to confusion about the new SIDs. Cich also cited low club member voting and student lack of knowledge about how student government works as being other reasons for poor voting numbers. "By publicizing student government itself and what it does then people will see how it effects them and they will become more interested and want to vote," Cich said. Madrid, who also served as the election chair, posted approximately 400 stickers on computer terminals in labs across campus encouraging students to vote. Many of the stickers were either tampered with or removed from the terminals by lab users after the first day of voting. Hanson, on the other hand, spent over 140 hours developing the software at his home and holds the copyright on the software. Because local community colleges are interested in purchasing the software, Hanson has agreed to sign over the copyright to the College so the College will be able to make a profit off of the licensing agreements. Hanson stated that other community colleges have discussed cost for developing similar software, which rages from $4,000 to $15,000. According to Cich, SBA vice president, if the College were to arrange a licensing agreement with other schools they would also have to provide tech support and a warranty on the software as a part of the licensing agreement. Pierce, Highline and Big Bend Community Colleges were mentioned as being interested in purchasing the software. Currently there are no specific plans to license the software to other schools. Hanson labeled the software as being "A great mechanism for increasing the student population's voting levels." Scott Saunders, director of student programs, stated that the voter turn out of only 156 students was the lowest turn out that he has seen in over 20 years at the College. In May of 2000, the SBA President Elect, Jacob English, won the election with 138 total votes; 18 votes less than the total ballots cast for this year's election. Saunders mentioned several ideas for increasing student interest in future SBA elections including: Increasing the number of voting kiosks on campus and the possibility of wireless on-line voting through the use of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs).	.
by Travis Hay