Malfunctions of the voting software used to tally votes caused problems for this year’s student government elections yesterday.
Because of the malfunction in the voting software provided by Information Technology Central Services, votes cast between midnight and 8:45 a.m. yesterday morning for the LSA Student Government elections did not count. The problem was fixed later yesterday morning.
The 747 students whose votes were affected recieved notification by e-mail to recast their votes for the LSA elections. The problematic elections included the Michigan Student Assembly LSA representatives and LSA Student Government presidents, vice presidents and representatives. Votes cast for the other 13 student government elections were not affected.
The e-mail from the MSA election directors apologized for the inconvenience and stressed the importance of keeping the election fair.
“Maintaining the integrity of our election process is very important to us,” the e-mail read. “And we want to assure you that the problem was promptly addressed very soon after an initial report was received.”
Election Director Emily Winter, an LSA junior, said she doesn’t think the issue will affect voter turnout because the problem was caught early and affected students have been notified. Also, a series of follow-up e-mails reminding these students to recast their ballots will also be sent, which Winter said should help maintain voter turnout.