In the wake of last year’s election difficulties, the Student Information Network will probably not handle this year’s Student Assembly election, and will be replaced as the College’s primary polling network at some point in the next few months.
p. SIN was the focus of controversy in last semester’s confusing SA election, and SA President Zach Pilchen ’09 has confirmed that he and the SA are in the process of looking for an alternative program to conduct the March election.
p. SIN, which has been run by students in the past, is a website that offers a variety of services, such as ride board and job board, to the student body.
p. Confusion involving daylight savings time inadvertently erased the election results in March.
p. Later, it was revealed that an individual from SIN had been able to access the results during the day, leading to concern over the website’s security.
p. The results were eventually recovered by an alumnus who had previously worked for SIN.
p. According to Pilchen, who became president in that election, polling with SIN in the upcoming school year concerns the SA.
“No one is really equipped to run SIN this year,” Pilchen said.
However, the upcoming freshmen elections will still be conducted on the network due to a “lack of time.”
p. Concerns regarding the voting system have also resonated within the Elections Commission.
p. The new elections chairman, Adam Boltik ’08, also confirmed that a new system will be tested at some point in the near future, but he was unable to give any information about it.
p. However, according to Pilchen, the election commission, will not play a significant role in deciding which program will supplant SIN.
“My worry is that with an organization made up largely with government majors, we’ll end up trying to change how the elections are run,” Pilchen said. “I’m hoping this isn’t something that will take up too much time in the upcoming year.”
p. According to Senate Chair Matt Beato ’09, among the companies being considered to replace SIN is eBallot.
p. eBallot claims to be “#1 in online voting for colleges and universities.”
p. The company said that it takes various security measures to ensure a legitimate election.
p. Namely, the hosting facility will not be on-campus.