Get out the vote

While the Election Board's move to electronic voting last semester has undoubtedly made it easier and more convenient to vote, many students still do not bother with Senate elections or constitutional referenda. Low voter turnout is often attributed to a lack of information prior to an election, and last week's vote was no exception.

The failed conservative culture rep referendum was deemed ready for a campus vote mere days after it had passed the approval process by the TCUJ and CSL. Though it was included in a Hotung debate prior to the election, ELBO failed to inform students that such an event was even taking place.

It's not that students don't care about issues like the conservative rep proposal. In fact, many student groups utilize electronic mailing lists to discuss upcoming elections and form a consensus within their membership. But due to their limited scope, these discussions are unlikely to represent much in the way of varied opinions _ or give students the information needed to make informed decisions.

ELBO should continue their move toward online services and offer electronic message boards to unexclusively allow students a forum for election debate. Much as voter turnout is improved by online voting, the traditional Hotung debates would be much more robust if more people had an easy way to sound off on the issues. Many upperclassmen may remember a more general online discussion board that grew in short time to captivate the University _ obviously, students here enjoy arguing online.

Asking ELBO to create an online messageboard might be asking more than the body is able to provide right now, and there are always concerns about how to control the content of the messages. However, it would take little effort for ELBO to designate a students to put information such as candidate biographies, statements from opposing sides in constitutional debates, and links to articles in campus publications about elections on the body's website _ and inform students of the existence of such site.

Though plagued by election controversy in the past, ELBO now seems to have its act together and is enjoying full membership for the first time in years. The board needs to use these extra resources to provide better ways for more students to get involved, and ultimately, to vote.