The Associated Students of Madison general elections started
Tuesday with relatively few problems, Student Election Committee
Chair Marissa Courey said.

“Everything seems to be going fine,” she said.

However, Courey did say there were some technical problems
involving the student council seat from the School of Nursing. The
voting system would not accept write-in votes for the seat, which
does not have any candidates on the ballot.

Courey said all students who could vote for this seat will be
sent an e-mail this morning explaining what happened. It will also
inform the students that the problem has been fixed.

The Division of Information Technology used a practice vote last
week in order to fix any bugs that might crop up over the course of
the real election, Courey said. Candidates were urged to try out
the system beforehand, testing nearly all available options during
the week’s election.

In fall’s ASM election, portions of the election had to be
re-voted on due to computer errors. Even though technical errors
plagued the fall 2003 election, it remained ASM’s most
successful election with the highest voter turnout.

Courey said she hopes this spring will break those records.

The weather may have affected the turnout at the computer
polling places located around University of Wisconsin’s
unions, and Courey said she would not know whether more students
voted this time around until the election ends Thursday at 8
p.m.

Thirty-three seats in student government and four ASM
constitutional-amendment proposals are up for grabs. The four
referenda deal with the distribution of Student Services Finance
Committee seats, segregated-fees reserves and how segregated fees
can fund speech or expressive activities.

One of the referenda proposed would make student council members
lobby the state Legislature for affordable tuition at least once a
year, participate in one ASM recruitment drive and attend at least
one United Council event.

Though many students agree tuition is high, this amendment would
essentially force students to lobby despite their views on the
issue.

Courey encouraged all students to vote no matter where they
stand on any issue, and she agreed that voting at home or on any
Internet-capable computer is as easy as checking one’s
e-mail.

UW Dean of Students Luoluo Hong also stressed the importance of
campus civic involvement.

“UW-Madison has rich and strong history of student involvement
in governance, but shared governance only works if a critical mass
of students get involved,” Hong said in a press release. “Voting is
a concrete way that every student can help shape campus.”

Students can find information on the candidates and vote on
ASM’s site at www.asm.wisc.edu.