Referenda sponsors will campaign again in fall
After a student court overturned the results of last week's referenda Saturday, postponing it to the fall 2006 ballot, those connected to the referenda said they will continue to campaign for their causes.
The Associated Students of Madison Student Judiciary addressed a petition from ASM members to review the 436 votes that were not counted in the referenda last week due to technical errors, deciding these voters were denied the right to vote.
Student Labor Action Coalition member Joel Feingold said his organization, which sponsored the living wage referendum, is frustrated with having to re-campaign in the fall for what will be the third time.
We're going to continue fighting in solidarity with workers on this campus, and if it's not going to happen through an initiative it'll happen through other ways,\ Feingold said.
Student Elections Commission Chair Tim Leonard said the SEC will decide how the referenda votes will proceed after the candidate elections wrap up this week.
""Nothing is set in stone or even discussed as far as the fall election,"" Leonard said.
Shayna Hetzel is vice president of External Relations of the Wisconsin Union Directorate, which sponsored a referendum called the Wisconsin Union Facilities Improvement Plan to overhaul the student union buildings. WUFIP was voted down last week.
Hetzel said there will be hardships with re-campaigning in the fall, such as informing incoming freshmen and getting 10,000 signatures to put the plan on the ballot again.
""It's really unfortunate that the elections obviously ended up like this, but I do think it was the right thing to do, so that whatever the results may be, whether its our initiative passing or failing, would be legitimate results,"" Hetzel said.
Hetzel said this opportunity is good for both WUFIP and SLAC because both campaigns are starting with clean slates and now have the opportunity to inform more students of the consequences of having their plans pass or fail. She expressed frustration with Division of Information Technology, which ran the electronic ballot.
""We kind of have to move on from the shadow of the past and look forward to our campaign in the fall,"" Hetzel said. Paper ballots to sacrifice convenience
The Associated Students of Madison candidate elections, rescheduled from last week, will be attempted for the third time Tuesday and Wednesday, this time through paper ballots. The last two ASM elections, both conducted online, experienced technical complications.
Student Election Commission Chair Tim Leonard admitted some disadvantages to the paper ballots at a press conference Monday at Memorial Union.
""There's obvious convenience with students, especially as wired as we are today, to go online and to vote,"" he said. ""That really makes it convenient to vote and brings out the voter turnout. So our biggest concern with going paper, obviously, is the voter turnout.""
Leonard said the elections have utilized the same online ballot, run by the UW-Madison Division of Information Technology, since 2000.
""This is my third election,"" he said. ""In the past two elections, the system has worked fine. This time around it didn't work, and right now the Department of Information Technology is not confident using that system.""
The only computerized part of the paper election is the scanning of student IDs at the polls to ensure a student only votes once.
ASM Elections Marketing Director Natalie Fandrey stressed the importance of students voting.
""These candidates are running for positions that can make changes within the ASM system and the campus as a whole, so it's important that students get out and vote for these candidates to ensure that changes are made where they see fit,"" Fandrey said.
Polls are set up to open Tuesday in the entrance lobby areas of six different locations: College Library, Steenbock Library, Van Hise, Memorial Union, Union South and Granger Hall. The polls will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m both days.
""We're really ready to pick ourselves up and take on the task at hand, and that is we need to have students vote,"" said Interim Dean of Students Lori Berquam. ""The first time it didn't work, the second time it didn't work, the third time it's going to work, and that's the Wisconsin way.""
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