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As John Jay leaps into the future, a new method of voting for student representation is being introduced this semester. Instead of traditional voting booths, the voting process will now be done online.
“It takes less than 5 minutes,” said John Leebens, student life coordinator, with the snap of his fingers.
Before, the voting process was not able to accommodate all students. Voting could only be done during the office hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Students taking night classes or students with limited schedules most likely did not vote.
Now, according to Leebens, “You don’t have to be on campus.”
Everything concerning student elections will be located on the Jay Stop website. It can be accessed through the John Jay website. The voting link was created by the Department of Information Technology, DoIT.
After the candidates have been certified, on Friday March 2, their platforms and photographs will be up on the site. If students are not on campus for the debates, on Wednesday March 14 at 6 p.m. and Thursday March 15 during community hour, they can view the platforms and make a decision from there. To avoid any confusion, prior to the beginning of the election dates there will be no option to vote.
On Thursday March 15 at 5 p.m. the polls will be open on the website and will stay open until Thursday March 22 at 5 p.m.
There will be a large banner on the top of the site that will allow students to access the ballot. Once there, students will be able to vote for all the positions that they are qualified to vote in, meaning if a student is a senior they will not be given the option to vote for junior representatives, something that could not be prevented before.
After Jay Stop redirects students to the ballots they will not be able to leave the page until they vote for at least one position. Once a student votes, access to the ballots will be denied.
The online process creates an easier method of tallying the votes. After the polls close, the program will produce a single printout with all the elected officials’ names. This is in conjunction with John Jay’s going green project. Instead of having numerous paper ballots, there is one single sheet of paper being used. The results will then be announced on Thursday March 22 at 7 p.m.
The change stems from several factors, one being cost. The total cost of the voting booths and the employees who run them, according to the Office of Student Life’s budget, was $3650.50.
Now, the entire process is free.
Students were involved in the change. A survey was sent to the student body via their John Jay email accounts. According to Jerrell Robinson, director of student life, “less than 500 students” answered the survey but the overall consensus was for the change, with “93 percent,” according to Leebens.
However, according to Rafael Diaz, forensic psychology major, the method of voting isn’t the problem; it is the lack of information about the student representatives.
“No, I have never voted for student representatives because I was never informed of who was running or what each representative would offer the school and the student body,” Diaz said.
William Ritchey, 22, also a forensic psychology major would agree with Diaz.
He said, “I’ve never voted for student representation before because I never really knew what they actually accomplished.”
Last year, 1,455 students out of a student body consisting of 15,000, came out to vote for student representatives. Diaz and Ritchey were a part of the students who did not vote.
Diaz on why he never voted, “I don’t think online [voting] has much of an effect, in my opinion. It would make the process a lot more accessible [to students] but I still wouldn’t vote unless I know who is running and what they represent.”
Upon learning that the representatives’ platforms will be available online as well, his skepticism slightly decreased. He said, “If I am given enough information as to being able to formulate an opinion and get a sense of what the person running is trying to achieve, [then] I will vote.”
From traditional booths to the web, the change seems to be for the better if only student representatives can get their message across to the whole student body.
“The change obviously makes it much easier for people who care about student representatives to vote, which is a good thing,” said Ritchey.
If you would like to be a member of student government, petitions are now available at the Office of Student Life. They are due on Feb. 17. in room L2.71.
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