Brianne Ries
Assistant editor

ASLC Secretary sophomore Heather Snyder, who oversees the election process, said the move to an online system was one of her cabinet goals during her time in office.
With the lack of student turnout in the past, ASLC President senior Chris Schuldt said the online format should be a positive change and encourage student participation.
The new process will be streamlined and will take only three to four minutes to complete, which should increase student votes, Schuldt said.
Students will a receive an e-mail link in their inboxes Mar. 10 that will take them to the Survey
Monkey ballot where they can submit their votes. Despite students’ votes being in the database, Snyder stresses the importance that votes will remain confidential.
“We set up the account to see who voted,” she said. “It will say yes or no, not who you voted for.”
Snyder said it is very important for students to keep their inbox as empty as possible because high numbers of e-mails can cause the survey e-mail to bounce.
The first e-mail will serve as a test run to see which e-mail accounts reject the link so they can address the issue before the elections.
In previous years, students voted outside of Walker or Withnell Halls. This year there will still be information tables where students can review candidates’ information.
Snyder said that hesitation of preceding cabinets to make the move to the Internet was because of the complications that could potentially arise on election day.
“Moving to the Web, we had to be sure that it will work without complication,” Schuldt said. “Until (we were) comfortable, we’ve held off.”
Snyder credits Chief Technology Officer Irv Wiswall with helping the smooth transition so far.
“Irv has been such an amazing help with testing and setting up the account,” she said. “We could have never done it without him.”
Snyder said they are prepared if something goes wrong and that, if worse comes to worst, they will push the elections back if students are unable to vote.
“It has to be new some year,” she said.
The ASLC Web site will have a link to all of the candidate information and platforms.
The primary goal is to increase student voting with the ease of the new voting system.
Schuldt said students should vote because they are voting for those who will spend student body fees. He also said that it is important to have sound leadership as ASLC serves as its own corporation apart from the college.
Petitions for president and vice president are available outside of the ASLC office and must be submitted to the ASLC office by 5 p.m. today.