by Anna Hampton
Daily Lobo
ASUNM's new electronic voting system won't bring more students to the polls, but students who vote will appreciate the system's painless voting process, said ASUNM President Brittany Jaeger.
She said ASUNM already broke in the system to make sure it worked.
"We did our test run with the homecoming election," Jaeger said.
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Jaeger said the voting process will make for shorter lines at the polls.
"Students really liked not having to stand in line," she said.
Until this semester, ASUNM used paper ballots for all elections.
Elections Commission Senator Matt Gallegos said the system offers more security, and fewer ballots will be marked invalid because of errors.
"With paper ballots, you run the chance of people not filling out bubbles or using a pen instead of a pencil," he said.
With this system, students must go to a polling location, show picture identification, type their UNM NetID and password into a computer and vote, Gallegos said. In years past, students had to have their Social Security number, he said.
"It's a step forward," he said. "It's the future."
Student Becky Camden said the system will hinder voting efficiency.
"Electronic voting seems like it would cause a lot of chaos," she said.
Camden said fewer students will vote because there are no paper absentee ballots.
Jaeger said that won't be an issue.
"We've taken necessary precautions," she said.
There will be paper ballots available in case of a computer or password malfunction, she said.
ASUNM will work with Information Technology Services to prevent hackers and run the electronic voting process.
"We were concerned about it at first," Jaeger said. "But, because GPSA has done this before, a lot of those problems were resolved."
Election Commission Chair Nas Manole said the system is almost foolproof from hackers.
"It's 99 percent secure," he said.
ASUNM got the idea to use electronic voting from GPSA, an organization that has used the method for the past few years, Gallegos said.
Graduate student Aprell Emerson said the convenience and security of computers will be more appealing to students.
"I think it would draw more voters," she said.
Student Scott Burns said the change isn't more convenient and won't help voter turnout.
"The people who want to vote are going to vote either way," he said.
Gallegos said students who don't use their UNM account regularly should look up their NetID and password so they can vote.
"This will facilitate voting," he said. "It will make it a lot easier."
