Beginning today, all undergraduates may vote in an Undergraduate Council of Students referendum to change the voting procedure for electing executive board members to an instant runoff voting system.
The vote to accept or reject the constitutionally mandated referendum will be available on WebCT from Tuesday at noon until noon Friday.
The Elections Review Commission, an independent body created last semester to reassess UCS election procedures, endorsed the recommendation.
Charley Cummings '06, vice president of UCS and chair of the ERC, told The Herald that IRV is one of many planned reforms addressing a broad range of election-related topics, including financial and endorsement processes.
"In our constitution it calls for a runoff election between the top two candidates," Cummings said. "In the past four elections, one candidate has not received a majority (in the first round)," he said.
In those years, candidates were shown only the percentages that each candidate earned without knowing which candidate had the largest percentage and asked if they accepted the results. "In every year except for last year, the candidates accepted the results as final without knowing which candidate had won," Cummings said. Last year, the presidential race went to a runoff.
According to the statement placed by UCS on the WebCT voting page, "IRV essentially eliminates the need for a runoff election by asking voters to rank the candidates instead of vote for a single one."
The system would implement a preferential voting system. When voting, students would rank candidates instead of casting one vote for their favorite. At the end of the election, the votes for the student who got the least number of first-choice votes would be redistributed to other candidates based on those voters' second choices until one candidate won a majority.
"The change will basically be that now instead of winning by just plurality, people will rank their choices. That way you don't have to go to through the whole process of a runoff," said Joel Payne '05, UCS president. "It sounds more complicated than it actually is."
The referendum comes amidst controversy that last year's election results were skewed by holding a runoff election with a lower voter turnout than the original.
Both Cummings and Payne said that UCS, which is independent of the ERC, does not formally endorse the referendum. "We've decided to leave it unendorsed," Payne said. "We want this to be a situation for the student body to make a choice."
Because the referendum is an amendment to the UCS constitution, two-thirds of those who vote must agree with the policy for it to be implemented. Cummings said this is the first referendum to be held in his time working with UCS.
If the student body agrees with the referendum, it must be ratified by UCS to go into effect. "If the student body accepts it, we will have to ratify it. That step is pretty much a formality. We will respect what the student body decides," said Payne.
On the WebCT voting site, students will also be asked to answer optional non-binding poll questions. The topics of these nine questions vary from advising to cable television and will be used by UCS to best assess the student body's concerns, Payne said.
Both Payne and Cummings said they are concerned that students will be confused by IRV, but that IRV itself is an effective election procedure.
"The only thing I worry about is the confusion factor, whether people will understand what IRV is," Cummings said.
Included in the UCS referendum will be the following non-binding poll questions:
* If the University were able to get free RIPTA passes for all students (currently they are subsidized by half), how often would you use it?
* How high of a priority should it be for the University to build a music concert hall?
* Do you believe that your course and academic printing needs are sufficiently met by the $25 PAW Prints Card?
* Are you in favor of raising the student activities fee annually to account for inflation and increases in the number of student groups on campus (it is currently $136/year)?
* Kegs are currently prohibited on campus. Are you in favor or opposed to this measure?
* Would you be in favor of offering an optional winter "j-term" during Brown's winter break?
* If you answered yes to the previous question, what might you be interested in (i.e. intensive courses/seminars on campus, programs abroad, service projects, internships etc.)?
* Do you have an advisor?
* How many times per year do you see your advisor?
* If you do not have an advisor, would you like the University to assign you one?
* If it would be possible to replace/add another cable channel to Brown's cable system, what channel(s) would you like to add?
* What would you like to change about Brown?
