UF students won’t be voting in Student Government elections from their smartphones or off-campus apartments anytime soon.
The Student Senate rejected a bill Tuesday night that would have allowed secure site online voting. Senators Nic Knowlton, Helie Dharia and Warren Rhea led the discussion in favor of the bill, referencing projected increases in voter turnout and its presence at other schools. Senators Dylan Fisher, Austin Sherman and Joseph Michaels headed the argument against it, citing concerns about the integrity of votes and a failed national attempt to implement a similar system.
The Senate also passed the first reading of the amended fiscal year 2013-2014 activity and service fee budget, which totals $18,992,300.
Among the changes is a reduction of about $23,000 for the readership program, which had previously provided paper copies of The New York Times and USA Today on campus.
Michaels, also the budget and appropriations chairman, said the new amount of $27,173 will allow for digital subscriptions.
“If a student were to go to one of the newspaper stands early in the morning, more than likely there would not be a newspaper for them to grab,” he said. “People who were there earlier get to them first — so, professors, community members. There is no way to dictate who gets these newspapers.”
Michaels said because students pay the activity and service fees, they should be the ones benefiting from the program.
The amended budget also allocated $5,000 more to elections to increase “poll worker efficiency,” Michaels said.
Contact Julia Glum at jglum@alligator.org.
