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Financial controversy - swirls for

Scarborough SU _

In the midst of a reces- sion, it seems that even student unions aren’t exempt from financial disasters.

This Monday the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union at the University of Toronto announced the Feb. 6 closure of the campus restaurant Bluff’s due to “severe financial difficul- ties”.

Anti-gay activist kicked off U of Regina campus, again Self-styled Christian activist Bill Whatcott returned to another cold

reception at the Univer- sity of Regina on Jan. 22.

Whatcott, who had been —

on campus tacking up and handing out flyers entitled “Sodomites and University Academia,” was found by campus security at roughly 11:45 a.m. and escorted off the grounds by city police.

“We’ve gotten concerns from our students, faculty, and staff about materials that they find objection- able,” said Barb Pollock, the U of R’s vice presi- dent of external relations. campus.”

With files from the Canadian University Press

Online voting boosts turnout in student elections

By Danielle Webb

CUP Atlantic Bureau Chief —

ANTIGONISH (CUP) — The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa’s Elec- tions Bureau is hoping the introduction of online vot- ing will help increase voter turnout in this year’s student union election.

“Following a dismal three per cent voter turnout in a by-election last year, [the Elections Bureau] felt we needed to experiment with new ideas,” said Wassim Garzouzi. Ak

“It is a very engaged cam- pus, yet fewer students have been voting in student elec- tions. The CFS referendum was able to get a 22 per cent turnout and protests easily attract a few thousand stu- dents, yet when it comes to SFUO elections, there was simply no connection with the students,” he continued. But students at many At- lantic universities are al- ready voting online, slowly increasing voter turnout at universities like Dalhousie in Halifax, N.S., Acadia in Wolfville, N.S. and most no- tably, St. Francis Xavier in Antigonish, N.S., who saw 50.4 per cent voter turnout in their 2008 election. Acadia Students’ Union president Kyle Steele be- lieves the convenience of being able to vote online is definitely playing a role in their turnout increases over the past four years.

“The accessibility [of on- line voting] is much more practical than the paper bal- lot. When people can vote from their beds, you would

Fancy/the Xaverian Weekly

figure voter turnout would be higher,” said Steele.

Online voting in Atlan- tic Canada took off in 2004 with the launch of iVoteOn- line by Dalhousie graduate Mike Smit.

Dalhousie has also seen voter turnout increase since adopting Smit’s program.

“Before online voting, Dal- housie had a voter turnout of between three and five per cent. Over the years, we have seen turnout range from 12 per cent in our first year and reach up to 21 per cent,” said Dalhousie Student Union’s chief returning officer Sarah Amyotte.

Online voting has also been instrumental in enabling Dalhousie to reach new de- mographics of the student body as well, said Amyotte.

“Dalhousie is an institu- tion not limited to our three campuses. We have co-op students all over the world

More and more students’ unions are making the switch to online voting. Catherine

and even a nursing program in Yarmouth, N.S. With on- line voting . . . students ev- erywhere, those who only have class one day a week to those who are working for their engineering co-op in Alberta, to those studying in a castle in Glasgow, Scot- land, are able to log in and vote,” said Amyotte.

The St. FX Students’ Union has been using Smit’s pro- gram since 2005.

“When it works, it’s much easier for the voter; they can hop on any computer in the world and vote. It’s certainly much easier to increase your actual votes when communi- cation is driving [students] to an online poll, rather than making them walk or drive to a polling station,” said Neil Stephen, former VP communications for the St. FX Students’ Union.

Stephen’s efforts to increase awareness around the elec-

tion and rallying his fellow executives in engaging the student body led to St. FX’s 50.4 per cent voter turnout in 2008.

But, Stephen will admit there are problems with the system.

“It’s not totally secure, it doesn’t look very good, it takes away the one-on-one connection with a polling station — that visible con- nection is lost,” he said.

Despite any negatives, Ste- phen does believe online voting is here to stay.

“Like it or hate it, [online voting is] not going any- where. The positives far out- weigh the negatives.”

The University of Ottawa will be testing their new sys- tem from Feb. 10-12.

Garzouzi and his colleagues are aiming for a 30 per cent turnout, which would more than double last year’s turn- out.