With student government elections only a month away, Baruch officials have decided not to approve the contract for online voting this year, instead choosing to return to more traditional voting booths.
According to Carl Aylman, director of Student Life, when The Student Election Review Committee met in December, they decided to continue to use online ballots.
"[The committee] decided to use Internet voting for both the graduate and undergraduate elections as was done in Fall 2008 in a special referendum election and again in Spring 2009 for the undergraduate student government elections," says Aylman.
The online vote offered students the option to cast their ballots within a three-day period without having to be on campus. An email was sent to every student's Baruch email account, providing a link and instructions on how to cast their ballot.
While Aylman says that both elections that utilized online ballots resulted in voter turnouts in excess of 20%, students will have to make do with a more traditional process this year.
This change comes after last year's controversial student government elections, when presidential candidate Ben Guttmann contested the results, claiming that the winning party, New Baruch Alliance coerced students into voting for them on laptops that they provided.
The appeal was brought all the way up to Dr. Garrie Moore, the then vice chancellor of student affairs, where the results were deemed legitimate.
This year's elections will take place on campus on Monday, April 12 through Thursday, April 15.
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