Vote via your mobile

The e-voting system that the Union will be using for the elections system is compatible with most mobile phone web browsers. That means you can log-in to your groupwise or other preferred email service where your code comes through, on your phone, and then vote using your mobile. Simple, easy and fast.

You’ll be able to read details of candidates on your mobile and then make your decision. Technology eh?

Check your junk mail

A first email has gone out about the UCLan Students’ Union elections and it’s been sent to every student’s ‘preferred email address’. This means that the University has on file an email address which you’ve opted to have announcements sent to, this could be gmail, hotmail, yahoo, and a whole host of others.

All email programmes now have junk mail filters so there’s a good chance if you’re sat there reading this going ‘what email?’ it’s sat in your junk inbox. Make sure you take the two seconds to log-in and set the address ‘onlinevoting@electoralreform.co.uk’ to ’safe’, or ‘not junk’, or whatever other option you have that will send the email straight into your inbox.

The email with every student’s unique voting code is being sent out on Monday April 14, so make sure you’re ready for it.

Electoral reform services: providing your election

Here’s an interview, unedited, with Christy Gerould who is the project manager from Electoral Reform Services who are providing the software for UCLan student elections.

How does the e-voting system work?

Well we setup a ballot paper format online and then we email out security codes for students to access that ballot paper. We could send out paper ballot papers with security codes but the Union has chosen to do the whole election online. The student can then log-in from their email using the security code and they’ll be taken to the ballot paper and the six different positions will be listed. They’d click the position they want to vote for and be taken through to a screen with the candidates information, they then select their preference. The voting is available 24-hours a day and is more flexible than a paper based system.

Can students trust e-voting?

We carry out elections for some very large trade Union’s and corporate clients, including companies like T-mobile. They come in and indepenetly assess our systems and they’ve always been happy with them, so I’d like to think that means we’re secure. The individual security code cannot be replicated either, once it’s been used it cannot be used again to vote for the same position. If someone votes, then deletes the email, and tries to claim they didn’t vote then we will have a record of their vote and not issue a new code.

Have other Union’s used your service?

Yes, some have. Reading Union were very pleased with our service, they found that the turnout went up. They kept the idea of a polling station though by having computers in their Union with internet access for people to come and vote. I think it’s good to keep that idea of a manual voting area as that’s what students are used to.

Does e-voting increase the turnout?

It varies, for student elections we’ve found that it does because with a paper vote you’re automatically isolating anyone who isn’t at that campus - with e-voting anyone at any campus can vote at anytime. Also, your electorate, the students, have easy access to emails and the Internet so it seems that turnout does go up.

What should students do if they delete or lose the email containing their security code?

The best thing to do is get in touch with the Union who will pass the query onto us and we can re-issue the email, as long as the security code hasn’t been used.

Are local and national elections likely to include an e-voting option?

I think it could be plausible, but I don’t know what the reservations are. I think a lot of people will have concerns about security, so many people still don’t trust online banking for example so I doubt they’d trust e-voting just yet. It may happen in the future.

BBC: vote fraud undermines democracy

Story on the BBC site this morning about vote fraud in an election in Slough, this was during a conventional paper election. It raises the question, could e-voting be the safest option to stop bent politicians getting into power? We’ll be interviewing someone from the Electoral Reform Service who are providing the system for the UCLan student elections to see how safe their system really is.

e-voting demo shows simplicity

You may/may not have heard that this year’s student election is going to be run online. It will be entirely e-voting. This is expected to change the entire nature of the elections as candidates will no longer just be able to stand in the Union/Foster building and know who has voted.

Votes can come at anytime between 9 AM Monday April 14 and 12 midnight on Thursday April 18, and they can come from anywhere. The ballot box is now any PC that has access to the Internet and someone who has a log-in and password for a groupwise email account.

You can take a look at a demo of what the e-voting system will be like on the electoral reform services site (you need to select the Single Transferable Vote option), obviously it doesn’t include the UCLan branding names etc but gives a good indication of how the system works.

The question is now, how do you campaign when your electorate are everywhere?

Nominations open and secret campaigning begins

Nominations have had a week of being open and so far there haven’t been many applicants, but this is no surprise as we know from tradition there is usually a last minute flood.

It’s looking hopeful that each sabbatical position will be contested this year - which always helps as election when there’s more than one person standing.

The Union has made the ruling that no public campaigning until after the candidates briefing, this includes Facebook groups under its ruling. This seems fair, but it hasn’t stopped the setting up of facebook groups on the secret mode. This is a good way for candidates to gather together supporters and dish out tasks for people to do.

The question is, will supporters on facebook groups translate into votes? No matter how online democracy becomes there’s no substitute for a well thought out face to face election plan. If people don’t know you, they won’t vote for you.