Vis Lupi Est Grex

Absent Voters Ignored, Disenfranchised

We handed this issue with a ribbon tied around it to an RSJ senator candidate (beacuse he knows a fellow student who is being disenfranchised), to presidential candidate Cabrera (for his accountability stance), and to the fine people of START (because they seemed most likely to demonstrate leadership and act on this issue). Nobody saw fit to act on it. For shame.

ASUN, trying to raise its Election Code violation score from last year, is about to disenfranchise a not-insignificant portion of the eligible voting population: absent voters. The ASUN Election Code mandates, at section 17(g), that the Election Commission "develop and promulgate such regulations as may be necessary to allow voters who are absent during the election to cast a ballot, so as not to disenfranchise the voter." No such regulations were promulgated.

Instead, Sean Driscoll, the Chair of the Commission, acting on behalf of the Commission, decided that in order for absent voters to vote, they must obtain an absentee ballot on campus before the election. That is not absentee voting but rather early voting. Driscoll's statement, which was transmitted to the undergraduate e-mail listserv, stated:

Ballots will be available on the 3rd floor of the Joe Crowley Student Union in the Accounting Office March 4th-6th during their office hours. Here is how you will cast an absentee ballot:

On the third floor of the Student Union in the Accounting Office there will be ballots for all the different colleges. You will have to present your Student ID card in order to vote.

So, what was so hard to understand about the provisions of the Code. Absentee ballots must be made an option for absent voters "so as not to disenfranchise the voter." Instead, by requiring absent voters to be present before the election, this population is entirely disenfranchised. Think of students studying abroad or on internships abroad. Many, if not all, are paying for credits at the University of Nevada, and thus are paying fees to ASUN, but are not allowed the right to vote.

This is simply disgraceful. Just add it to the list of ASUN laws suggestions that are being blatantly disregarded. Where the hell are the advisers, the administrative faculty, to make sure the kids on the playground are following the rules?