Board Adds Online Voting, Modifies Code

Addressing a crowd of potential student body presidential candidates, board members said changes were made to establish guidelines for online voting and to clarify campaign rules.

"Elections will be totally online (for February's student body elections)," said board Chairman Jeremy Tuchmayer. "The main reason (for the code changes) was because we changed from print to the Internet."

Tuchmayer said half of the code had to be revised because the option of online voting negated many of the current provisions. "(Students) will be able to vote from essentially any computer that has the Internet," he said. "Candidates can not campaign around computer facilities."

Tuchmayer said any facility with four or more computer terminals is off-limits to campaigning. This prohibits candidates from posting flyers in computer labs.

Elections Board members said the new code also clarified ambiguities about campaign rules.

Tuchmayer said candidates used to have two weeks to collect signatures for their petition to be on the election ballot. After their petitions were approved by the board, candidates were given an additional two weeks to campaign.

But Tuchmayer said the two periods made it difficult for students to make informed decisions when signing petitions without platform information. The new code combines the two periods into a three-week period so candidates can both petition and campaign during one specified period of time.

"The (new) code was set up to keep everyone on an even foot," Tuchmayer said. "No one has an unfair advantage."

Vice Chairman Frederick Hill said the new code also clarifies who is allowed to work on student campaigns, although no problems were reported last year.

"Only registered, fee-paying students can work on campaigns," he said. "Elections are a University matter."

Hill and other board members said the change from paper ballot voting to online voting was the most improved change to the code.

Hill said November's Homecoming elections, which were used as a trial run for the online voting system, proved successful. "We feel it will improve voter turnout," he said. "There was a 450 percent voter turnout increase with this year's online Homecoming election."

Bryan Crumpler, an Elections Board member, said the new code made elections easier for everyone.

"First of all, online voting will be more convenient for the off-campus student body. It makes it easier for the Elections Board in terms of certifying elections, counting votes and record keeping," he said. "We alleviated ambiguities and provide clarity and structure to prevent potential problems with online voting."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.