[media-credit name=’BRYAN FAUST/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]After two botched attempts last spring, the Associated Students of Madison appears to have averted any technical snags after the first of two voting days Wednesday.
Voting is scheduled to conclude at 6 p.m. today on the Student Union Initiative, the Living Wage initiative and on the elections of select ASM representatives.
The Living Wage initiative, if passed, would set a rate of $10.23 an hour for student employees at the Wisconsin Union, University Health Services and Recreational Sports. Meanwhile, the Student Union Initiative, if approved, would raise student-segregated fees to fund a new Union South and extensive renovations of Memorial Union.
Also on the ballot are ASM representatives, who are elected by college — the College of Letters and Science being the largest. While most representatives were decided on in last spring's elections, the freshman class has a separate ballot every fall to elect its representatives.
The two referendums are left over from the two rounds of elections last spring, which were conducted using an electronic voting system designed by the University of Wisconsin's Department of Information Technology. Students could log in with their student ID and vote from any place providing Internet access.
But after facing technical problems in both rounds of elections, ASM settled for a paper balloting system to elect representatives last semester, and deferred the two referendums to this fall.
ASM representative Sol Grosskopf said the election has successfully transitioned from last year's blunder.
"Everything has been running very smoothly. The turnout has been very good this year," Grosskopf said. "I think the initiatives have gained student interest and gotten them out to vote."
UW junior Colleen Thomas said she is concerned that some students were discouraged by the election results last year. She also said she is hopeful, however, that they will put the failed elections behind them and take the time to participate once again.
ASM Chair Dylan Rath said the polling went well for the first day, but expressed concern with students' perception of the elections' history.
"I think our whole election process lost credibility last year," he said. "Hopefully with this reorganized paper ballot system and a future electronic system, we'll regain that trust."
The paper ballot system, which has created an inconvenience for some students, limits students to just four designated polling places on campus: College Library, Wendt Library, Gordon Commons and Holt Commons.
The Student Election Commission is currently looking into electronic voting systems from companies outside the university and hopes to have one in place by next semester.
According to UW senior Erik Davidson, a return to the online system this fall would have been much more popular.
"I'm guessing the voter turnout will still be pretty low," he said.
And some students, like Wisconsin Union employee and UW sophomore Kirsten Erikson, say just a small fraction of student voters on campus care about the election, and are only drawn by the initiatives.
Thomas said the proposed changes to Memorial Union are what drew her to the polls Wednesday.
"My biggest thing is that it's not accessible; it's very confusing for people to try to navigate the building," Thomas said. "I also support the new Union South because it [will be] a green building. I think our student body has supported environmental innovation in the past — here at Madison we stand for that sort of action."
While Thomas promoted the merits of a better Wisconsin Union, other voters turned out to the polls to protect their ever-rising tuition bills from the proposed segregated fee increase to fund the Student Union Initiative.
If the initiative passes, it would take approximately 30 years of increased student segregated fees to cover the loan.
"[The Student Union Initiative] is going to create a huge burden on the students, even 20 years from now," Davidson said. "There has to be better ways to fund it than raising seg fees, which are already very high."
Students must present a valid UW student ID to vote.