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 Know of any news? Call the Daily. 763-2459 Outdoor Xecreation Cexter North Campus Recreation Building 764-3967 Skis Snowshoes Backpacks Sleds Tents Sleeping Bags Request for Research Participants For study investigating if a daily dose of aspirin aids in the prevention of colon cancer. Males or Females 18 years of age or older Volunteers will be asked to: -take two adult aspirin per day for two weeks -undergo 1 flexible sigmoidoscopy at the end of two weeks There is an * * .ooai of $ee+#upon completion of the study. For further information or questions, contact Kim Burney at (313) 763-1141. 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