As the 2011 Mr. and Miss UNC were crowned at the Homecoming game Saturday, members of the Board of Elections were pleased over something besides the results — the voting system.
The voting software, Collegiate Link, was tested for the first time during the Homecoming elections and was glitch free, said Shruthi Sundaram, chairwoman of the Board of Elections.
She said the board plans to use the software for all upcoming elections, including the student body president election in the spring semester.
Clint Hannah and Holly Roberts were named winners in this year’s Homecoming election, which garnered 2,312 total votes, compared to 2,612 votes last year.
Sundaram said she was happy with voter turnout, especially because the new voting system required voters to register first.
“We thought this might deter people from voting,” she said.
The system’s registration process requires students to enter their name and email before voting, and keeps them registered until graduation, she said.
The previous voting system was run through Information Technology Services, and featured occasional incidents in which students were unable to vote, Sundaram said.
That wasn’t the case this year, Sundaram said. “I didn’t get a single email,” she said. “As far as I know, every person who tried to vote was successful.”
