OPINION & EDITORIAL
Losing sleep over illegitimate vote
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Also by Taylor Hughes:
- Work makes UW worth it (May 10, 2007)
- Cultivating leadership (May 9, 2007)
- Getting by without the books (May 8, 2007)
Related Stories:
- Perhaps police need a hobby (September 25, 2003)
- Take some time to think (September 11, 2002)
- Redo referendums (April 7, 2006)
- Swimming at Saddam's (October 9, 2006)
- Readers spit flame (November 10, 2006)
by Taylor Hughes
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
I couldn't sleep all weekend. I tossed and turned, counted sheep and drank a glass of warm milk to no avail. The thought that 2,600 students today could determine the fate of students' finances for the next 30 years was just too much to handle, and there was no way I was getting any Z's.
As it turns out, my sleepless nights were wholly justified by the outrageous outcome of the Associated Students of Madison elections announced Monday night: The Living Wage and Student Union Initiative referendums both passed by a large margin of the small number of students who actually showed up to vote.
The Union initiative alone will raise student-segregated fees by almost $200 — amounting to each University of Wisconsin student for the next three decades contributing, personally, almost $800 over the course of his college career to rebuild Union South and restore Memorial Union.
The referendums amount to literally hundreds of millions of dollars on the backs of students, yet the whole thing happened with much less student interaction than it deserved. The referendums should have been decided by something more significant than a simple ASM ballot that students usually disregard as superfluous.
A medium usually reserved for deciding John Smith or Jane Doe for treasurer decided something much more important to everyday student life than anything our student government has accomplished in recent history. Instead of deciding John vs. Jane, the ballot's outcome will very seriously punish students both present and future — potentially until the class of 2037 walks across the stage.
But what makes this semester's election even more absurd is that it followed two attempts to decide the same referendums in the spring — and one the year before to boot. Only this time, there was no way a reasonable number of students could have participated, and as expected, the elections only drew 6.6 percent of the student body to the polls.
The first two spring elections were hosted online by DoIT and were open over the course of several days to anyone within walking distance of a computer. In last semester’s online go-around, almost four times as many voters as this round — an astonishing 22.4 percent of students — decided to pass the Living Wage referendum and kill off the Union plan once and for all.
But even though the number of misappropriated votes was less than the number of votes it would have taken to change the outcome, the results were voided by the Student Judiciary — another branch of ASM — and sent to the polls again for good measure.
So, thanks to the sheer incompetence of the Associated Students of Madison combined with a less-than-skilled set of DoIT programmers, the elections were relegated to the physical realm and doomed to receive low turnout and skewed results. Why ASM couldn't spend a few thousand dollars to have a professional firm devise what amounts to a simple online survey is beyond me — but what the heck, it's only $200,000,000 of icing on 30 years' worth of tuition, right?
Paper ballots aren't the end of the trail of tears, however. After all, before the Internet, plenty of student voting took place on paper ballots and it was all just hunky-dory. The problem was exacerbated this time by a lack of sufficient polling locations and a poor schedule.
Just getting to one of the four polling locations on campus — College Library, Wendt Library, Gordon Commons or Holt Commons — was not an easy task for someone working on a stopwatch between classes and midterms. What's more, the polls were only open for six-and-a-half hours on Wednesday and Thursday: between 12 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
For those students suffering through exams last week, a student government election was less than a priority, even for those lucky enough to know about the referendums in the first place. Lumbering halfway across campus to Helen C. in freezing winds, 15 minutes before an exam in 165 Bascom, is barely worth the extra student-segregated fees — especially if it's going to cut into study time.
So, the Student Union Initiative got their millions at the expense of students now and practically forever. And the Living Wage referendum, a completely unnecessary measure to ensure students earn enough to support four family members, looks to be a success.
All thanks to 6.6 percent of the student body, 1,691 of whom voted in favor of the Union initiative and 1,418 of whom voted in favor of the Living Wage referendum. Decades of students at UW are doomed to pay a debt decided by less than 4 percent of the student body today.
Good luck sleeping tonight.
Taylor Hughes (thughes@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in information systems.
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 7:30am):
Dude, this is how we roll in America. My advice to you: Graduate, get a good job, make a lot of money, and donate lots of cash to the suffering students DOOMED to pay off the debt.
If you really care about the students' suffering for the next 30 years, you'll give back and save them... won't you?
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 8:42am):
boo hoo, stop your whining, how the repuatation of UW is seen nationally is directly tied into the campus and its facilites. This in turn, is reflected in the value of your degree which well exceeds the additional 200 dollars you might have to pay now. Don't think so...think about SOAR and how you were suddenly mortified to go to UW because Union South was such a monstrosity, that is what happens when you use such horrendously outdated facilites...now go back to writing your sob stories at your local independent coffee shop
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 9:40am):
Taylor is cranky at everyone! SLAC, ASM, WUD, midterms, the weather...
This isn't an editorial, it reads like my 13 year old sister's livejournal.
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 9:40am):
Maybe the student newspapers should be like the "Big People's" newspapers and sponsor debates on elections here on campus.
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 9:55am):
TAYLOR:
Stop your whining. Maybe you should have done something other than relying on your inspiring and motivationally crabby whines in print media to make a difference.
I didn't see you running an active campaign to get voters informed and in touch with the campaign issues at hand.
You are lame. I hope I never see you in any of the Unions or at its functions/programs/services.
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 10:12am):
You lost sleep over this?
I'd hate to see how you'd react to an issue that actually matters.
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 10:15am):
someone needs to bring a case to the student judiciary
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 10:17am):
SLAC HAS NO POWER
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 10:34am):
what is with the badger herald's crabby coverage of this? your opinions even floated bias onto yesterday's front page. the picture of asm's office and the caption tried to imply that ASM wasn't doing their job....maybe ASM does suck, but your news coverage shouldn't be influenced by the whining on your op/ed page. not very professional.
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 10:34am):
It's a pittance compared to the total cost of attendance.
Find a real problem to whine about - if you must whine.
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 10:43am):
We should sue. Why do they certify the vote after it passes once, but refuse to do so after it was rejected THREE TIMES?
If there was "fraud" the first three times, there was certainly fraud this time -- it doesn't take three days to count 3000 votes!
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 11:05am):
Whining? Pittance? Tuition has been rising every year, with seg fees outpacing it at a dizzying rate. If there's anything for students to be upset about, it's more money being sucked directly out of their pockets because of unethical student groups.
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 11:19am):
"SLAC HAS NO POWER" - HUH?!
For three consecutive elections, SLAC opposes the Union referendum, and beats it for three consecutive elections. Then, the Administration agrees to pay a living wage and move 400 jobs from LTE status to full-time with benefits, and so SLAC agrees to step aside and not fight the Union referendum. Then, the referendum passes.
To me, that is the definition of power, and also its wise use.
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 11:37am):
Do the math - the Student Union cost is a pittance, especially for non-residents.
PS. Be certain to include the opportunity cost of foregone wages in your analysis.
PPS. The 'living wage' thing is totally bogus. Full time students should work less that half time so I guess a "living wage" would be quite a bit per hour if you only work 10 hrs/week. Heck, I like that!
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 12:35pm):
Your numbers are incorrect, over the course of the next 4 years it will be 600, not 800, the first 2 years are only 48 per semester. And keep in mind that is over the course of an entire school year, so 200 for a year isn't that much. We still charge less than other schools do for tuition and if a students financial aid can't cover $6.25 a week, perhaps they should cut some of the drinking/smoking/idiocy.
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 1:51pm):
How about, next time around, you stop whining about things and actually do something about it!
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 2:05pm):
For info on case to student judiciary search facebook for "vote no on student union initiaive"
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 2:07pm):
Taylor,
While you may be correct, stop and think about how the BH could have helped raise the voting rate/talk about this issue. Go count the number of editorials written this semester about national/international politics.
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 4:37pm):
"PPS. The 'living wage' thing is totally bogus. Full time students should work less that half time so I guess a "living wage" would be quite a bit per hour if you only work 10 hrs/week. Heck, I like that!"
No, the whole point is that students and classified/LTE should make roughly the same wages, and respectable wages at that, for roughly the same work.
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 5:18pm):
The only reason the vote was illegitimate was because so few of us students turned out.
Still, I'm more concerned about the living wage referendum. I think that a lot of voters didn't understand what they were voted on, and most probably didn't know that LTEs were already approved for a living wage increase. The wording on the ballot itself was obtuse and misleading. I work at Ed's, and I know that what I do is not worth 10.23/hour, and so I voted against the referendum, though I suppose many others only saw "living wage" and voted yes. But the vote stands, so just be prepared to shell out another couple bucks next time you want a pizza from us.
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 5:59pm):
To all the idiots saying "$200 a year isn't that much",
Maybe it's not that much to you, but you probably have mommy and daddy paying your bills anyway. I have to work three jobs to pay my tuition, rent, utilities, books, and to feed myself. I almost never go out, if I ate any less I'd be malnourished, and if I heat my rat-infested apartment only to 58 degrees. I can't afford another $200 a year, and I doubt you selfish jerks are going to offer to pay my share.
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 6:45pm):
"I have to work three jobs..."
Then your credit rating must REALLY suck since you should be able to borrow enough with no problem.
PS. Maybe you can glom onto some of those $10/hr jobs?
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 7:00pm):
"I can't afford another $200 a year"
Now yer makin me cry - that 55 cents a day would make ALL the difference to you happiness and they're just rippin it out of yer pocket. sob, sob, sob
cost-of-attendance estimates
Wisconsin Resident $15,994
Non-resident $29,994
Commuter(Living w/Parents) $11,214
Let's add $10,000 for the opportunity cost of wages forgone by attending school.
Wisconsin Resident $25,994
Non-resident $39,994
Commuter(Living w/Parents) $21,214
Percentage increase represented by $200
Wisconsin Resident 0.77%
Non-resident 0.50%
Commuter(Living w/Parents) 0.94%
Oh, the horror!!!
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 7:10pm):
To 5:59- They've invented these things called "student loans."
If you're working three jobs, your grades probably show it; you're never going to get a real job with those grades; you'll continue your current 3 job regimen for the next 40 years; you'll be happy the minimum wage was raised.
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 8:40pm):
would you call the vote illegitimate if it had turned out the way the badger herald had hoped? i'm guessing no....
Anonymous (October 24, 2006 @ 11:59pm):
Hey, while we're at it, why not tear down Humanities and make the students pay for that? After all, its the students who are taking classes there, not the average taxpayer. What's another $200 a year going to matter? And when they tear down Ogg and build on that spot, hey, students can pay for all that too. And sorry I don't buy all that bull about how if the initiative didn't pass, students would have no control over what happens to the unions. You think they're going to actually listen to any of us when they're building the new Union South?
Anonymous (October 26, 2006 @ 4:35pm):
"If you're working three jobs, your grades probably show it; you're never going to get a real job with those grades; you'll continue your current 3 job regimen for the next 40 years; you'll be happy the minimum wage was raised."
That's a stereotype and you're an ignorant fool (and no, I'm not 5:59). I know plenty of students that work multiple jobs and major in demanding subject areas.
Anonymous (December 6, 2006 @ 10:50am):
I think the editor makes a valid point. No matter what the $$$, if the student body's view has been manipulated, it's been manipulated.
