The Martlet

Did you vote in this last UVSS election — how about more than once?

Shawn Slavin knew it was possible to vote twice. What he didn’t anticipate, however, was just how easy it would be.

“They didn’t even write my name down — I could have put ‘John Smith,’” Slavin said, walking out of the poll both on March 4 with an extra ballot in hand.

While Slavin didn’t actually deposit two ballots in the 2010 UVic Students’ Society (UVSS) election, he went through the steps of obtaining both, just to prove it was possible. He later surrendered the extra ballot to the UVSS electoral committee.

“Up until yesterday, I could get new stickers for my student card. All it takes is saving one of those stickers and replacing the one they take a notch out of,” said Slavin. “I could have ‘lost’ my sticker 10 or 17 times this past year.”

Slavin’s mission wasn’t just to prove the current system defunct, but to show how important moving to secure online voting is for the UVSS elections — a system currently used by both the UVic Senate and Board of Governors.

“The difference between student politics and ‘real’ politics is that there are no repercussions for voting multiple times,” Slavin said. “It’s become an American Idol-style election, in that you can vote for your favourite as many times as you want.”

Voting multiple times in Canada can earn you a fine of up to $5,000 and a year in jail, and can prohibit people from holding office or voting in local government elections for up to six years. Voting multiple times in the UVSS, however, goes largely undetected.

“It would take thousands of man- hours to cross-check lists and see who voted twice, and even then we have no way of tracking who they voted for,” Slavin said.

Slavin was a deputy electoral officer for the UVSS elections in 2008 and 2009. He applied again this year, but was rejected. Instead, he started a two-person slate with running mate Sean Walsh, looking to shed light on how much of a “sham” the UVSS elections can be. While neither Slavin nor Walsh were elected, Slavin feels confident that the point has been made.

Slavin said that multiple voting was a concern the first year he was involved with the elections. A motion was put forward at the beginning of this year to move the UVSS to an online system, but it saw no follow-through. Now, the move will be left in the hands of the incoming executives.

UVSS Chair-elect James Coccola feels just as strongly about the need for voting reform.

“With paper ballots, it’s all up to human error,” said Coccola. “[With the move online] it’s about finding a way of doing it right and making it fair.”

Coccola says that, while there are some valid concerns about the move, online systems have historically increased voter turnout and saved funds previously spent on ballots, poll-sitters, counters and more.

UVSS Chief Electoral Officer Conrad Vanderkamp agrees that an online system could erase some problems, but says many more would be created.

“I don’t know what bugs could be in the system, but there’s concern to be raised when you don’t have the physical evidence to prove what was submitted,” he said. “That said, web-based info has become much more significant, and in a few years we’ve gone from a horse-and-buggy setup to a much more sophisticated race.”

Poll-sitter Meghan Woods feels confident that paper ballots still have their place in student elections.

“Without the election booths, [voting] isn’t in your face, and you can’t see your friends doing it,” she said.

While this was the first time Woods was hired as a poll-sitter, the fourth-year psychology student said the current system is easy to understand.

“The process is really straightforward, and [poll sitting] is a great way to make a little extra money as a student,” she said.

Still, Slavin says the need for change is highlighted by this year’s director of academics contest, where one vote separates current winner Leah Staples from Rajpreet Sall.

“It just takes one person voting an extra time to change the whole election,” he said. “Right now, with the resources we have, there’s nothing we can do.”