LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, November 20, 1996 --5
VOTE
'ontinued from Page 1
public access guidelines as strict as those
in Michigan. Michigan's OMA is similar
to those in most
tates, however.
"Michigan's
processes are We're
open because of
a series of court ourselves
cases, not
ecause of our more
Open Meetings F
Act," Schwartz
said. - State Sen.
Two such
cases involved
the University.
A 1987 lawsuit kept the University
-oard of Regents' attorneys in courts
for years and set specific rules for
'future searches. The University's
arch plans violated these guidelines
this year, however, and the regents
encountered legal action that ended in
a court order forcing them to make the
t
R
last leg of the search public.
Schwartz said a totally open search is
"counterproductive" and favors internal
candidates. Former University Law
School Dean Lee Bollinger was "preor-
dained" to be
chosen for the
University presi-
Uettfing dency, he said.
"With the other
:. three candidates, I
think it would be
very difficult to
ask the hard,
probing - some-
ohn Schwartz times personal -
-Battle Creek questions," he
said.
Allowing uni-
versity governing boards to keep much
of the search process private could pre-
vent wrong decisions, Schwartz said.
"We're setting ourselves, with the
process as it now stands ... up for more
than one disaster," he said.
The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
By Chris Metinko
Daily Staff Reporter
Rackham Student Government is hoping its persis-
tence pays off as it tries to combat voter apathy. For the
second consecutive Rackham election, RSG is offer-
ing its students the ability to vote using the World
Wide Web.
"It was a partial success. We made it much more
convenient for people to vote,"said John Lopez, RSG
co-president.
Lopez is hoping this convenience will improve
voter turnout among Rackham students, "We would
like to see an increase of 50 percent. We're shooting
for 150 (votes) via the web."
Lopez estimates about 115 Rackham students voted
last year, but feels the number is misleading because
many of the votes were discarded. Election officials
discarded ballots if voters did not complete the two-
step process of first voting and then authenticating
their ballot by e-mailing the Rackham electronic bal-
lot counter.
That has all changed now, Lopez said.
"We did some work over the summer. EECS
agreed to allow us to use their server, and we can
authenticate through ITD or CAEN now," he said.
Sarah-Marie Belcastro, RSG co-president, said
one-third of last year's voter turnout already has
voted via the web. "If we get more than last year's
voter turnout, it'll be a success," Belcastro said.
Reviewing last year's debut of electronic voting,
Belcastro said "it was neither a success or a failure.
We got the same voter turnout as usual."
RSG Rep. Karen Aguilera supports the electronic
voting system.
"The electronic voting seems like a good way to
save a lot of time and energy. People have e-mailing to
do and papers to write so they're right there," she said.
"Who has time to go from this place to that place to
vote?"
"This makes it way easier to vote," Belcastro
said.
Many Rackhan students seemed unaffected by
RSG's efforts.
Ian Kearny, a Rackham second-year student, said,
The reason I hadn't planned.to vote is I really didn't
pay attention to the candidates, I don't know anyone
planning to vote."
After learning of the new voting option, Rackham
first-year student Jonathan Jordan said he was unsure
whether or not he would vote.
"That makes it more likely, but I still don't know,"
Jordan said.
Rackham student Robert Karpinski said he
believes the voting system is a good idea, but said
that "if no one knows about it, it doesn't matter."'
RSG members are concerned that getting the word
out could be difficult.
"One of the problems is we only have contacts in
about half of the (Rackham) departments," Lopez
said, adding that RSG can't send messages to
department lists for more than 50 percent of
Rackham.
Whatever the turnout, Lopez said voting via The
Rackham students to vote on the web
web is here to stay.
"This will definitely
elections)," Lopez said.
be an option (for future
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