Student Senate elections moved to tomorrow amid technology issues, tickets voice frustration and turnout concerns

The Student Senate election was supposed to occur today; however, an email from both Student Senate and its Judicial Panel notified the election is moved to tomorrow citing technical issues. All ballots casted today will be voided, and a new ballot will be sent out at 12:01 a.m. tonight via Catmail and voting will close at 11:59 p.m. tomorrow. 

According to Student Senate’s Director of PR and Social Media Carson Sarver, students reached out about issues concerning the link, either students were unable to access the ballot or the link said they had already voted. She said that “they (OIT) don’t understand how that happened.”

Sarver also advised Senate is not responsible for handling elections, that responsibility belongs to the Senate’s Judicial Panel.

The email sent by Student Senate’s Judicial Panel advises that: “For this new ballot, you are going to need to complete it in one setting. Meaning, please do not open/start it until you are ready to cast your votes in one go. Furthermore, please do not open the survey at the end of this email until the start time tonight.”

Two of the three tickets running for this election expressed frustration about the situation. 

“It’s safe to say our ticket is extremely disappointed,” Clay Lewis, university life commissioner and presidential candidate, said about today’s announcement. “We’re having to do this all again tomorrow, which is just going to raise more stress for us, as well as students. But on top of all of that, all election results and ballots cast today were voided. So, we’re very afraid of what voter turnout will be like now.”

Lewis, who is running with Reagan Farmer and Dan Gordillo, said that this issue has not occurred in previous elections. He said that all three tickets are “in the dark” on preliminary results and voter turnout. 

Lewis also said that he had been in contact with the Judicial Panel since 9 a.m. about the technical issue; however, he stated that when he asked about results from today communication stopped.

“I have been in direct communication with JP (the Judicial Panel) today about this. They answered all my questions right away about technical problems. The moment that I asked them if all tickets are able to know what happened today, what were the results, what kind of results we are looking at. They immediately stopped talking to me, so all communication has been cut off because I asked that.”

Lewis said that the main concern for his ticket right now is a lack of transparency.

“We’re just concerned over the lack of transparency from the Judicial Panel to the tickets,” Lewis said. “It’s less for the sake of knowing who might have won and more for the sake of keeping the Judicial Panel accountable and knowing where we were standing today and know that this is still maintaining a fair election. We are wanting to know the results to make sure that we are holding everyone accountable and for the sake of transparency.”

Women’s Affairs Commissioner and presidential candidate Megan Handle gave a statement on behalf of her ticket with Isaac Davis which mentioned their shared frustration and concern for voter turnout.  

“In our perfect world, we would keep voting open for 48 hours so people could still make their voices count through voting, but those who have already voted do not have to be confused- and any system of cross referencing would keep votes from being counted twice. However, we have been told that this is not an option so (we) are hoping for the best regardless.”

The EMPOWEROHIO ticket consisting of Trinity Robinson, Dylan DeMonte and Arthur Bargainer had no comment. 

Student Senate’s Judicial Panel did not respond for comment by the time of publication, neither did Student Senate advisor and Vice Dean Chad Barnhardt nor University Marketing and Communications. 

The new election day is set for April 5 and the ballot is open until 11:59 p.m. Results from the Judicial Panel are expected April 7.