For the Elections Commission (ECOM), the second time was most certainly not the charm.
ECOM had to nullify a second contest yesterday after a technological malfunction left freshmen unable to vote for senators after 10 a.m. A third election is scheduled for Wednesday.
According to ECOM Chair Adam Weldai, the external server Votenet was responsible for yesterday's glitch, which resulted in persistent error messages and page-load problems throughout the day as students tried to cast ballots.
"This isn't the candidates' fault; this isn't ECOM's fault. The issue is with Votenet," Weldai, a senior, told the Daily last night. "We have been working with Votenet all day to no avail … They weren't successful in helping us restore the ballot or helping us understand the problem."
Wednesday's election will be the third in one week for the thirteen candidates vying for the seven open freshman Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate seats. ECOM voided the initial election, which took place last Wednesday, after candidates encouraged their peers to vote twice.
That election also featured problems with Votenet, which allowed students who voted before 1:10 a.m. to access a second ballot later in the day.
While Weldai believes that only the first ballot counted for each person, the malfunction touched off a period of widespread confusion among both candidates and voters.
Yesterday's failure has further pushed back the timetable for the TCU presidential election. The Senate was originally supposed to have a presidential nominating meeting yesterday, during which the slate of candidates would be finalized, but that was rescheduled to today to accommodate yesterday's revote.
Now, according to Weldai, the nominating meeting is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, and the presidential election will likely take place on April 27, five days later than initially planned.
Last night, TCU President Duncan Pickard said he was disappointed with the most recent development in this protracted election cycle.
"[There's] nothing anybody at Tufts could have done about it, so of course it's frustrating, but ultimately I don't think that the student body will be affected too much by this," he said.
Candidates also expressed frustration, as the new election will force them to mobilize supporters for a third time.
"This is a really unfortunate incident, but we can't blame ECOM for a problem that was accidently caused by a company they contracted," freshman candidate Jonathan Danzig said. "I just hope this doesn't dissuade any students from voting in this election … or the presidential election."
"It's really unfortunate that people will have to vote again," fellow candidate Aaron Bartel, an incumbent senator, said.
The glitch also added to the strain in ECOM's relationship with Votenet. The commission currently has a contract with the company, but it is set to expire after this semester.
According to Weldai, ECOM was not responsible for signing the initial contract and is examining ways to move away from Votenet. "This is not software that ECOM purchased or wants to have," he said.
To replace Votenet, ECOM is looking into the creation of a program that would be specific to Tufts.
Weldai said that this technology could be available as early as next semester. "There will be hopefully by the fall an online voting system … where people will be able to vote through our own program," he said.
Before the server crashed yesterday, ECOM was registering strong participation levels. According to Weldai, around 20 percent of eligible voters had cast a ballot by 2 a.m.
Still, an early problem foreshadowed the later crash, as students were unable to vote between approximately 1 a.m. and 1:40 a.m.
Moving forward, ECOM officials will be working with Votenet today and tomorrow to try to assure a smooth election for Wednesday.
Freshman Senator Danielle Cotter, a candidate for reelection, said she hopes to put the whole experience behind her tomorrow.
"It's a little annoying, but I guess the third time's the charm," she said.
