Voting for undergraduate student body elections has been extended to 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, according to an email from Director of Elections Amanda Nerone. The original time frame was midnight to 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday.
Clemson Undergraduate Student Government (CUSG) sent out a mass email at midnight on Wednesday with directions on how to vote. CUSG then emailed students at 12:14 a.m. about a technical issue.
“We are working to resolve the issue with voting for Student Body President and Vice President,” the email from CUSG PR said. “The server issue is currently being worked on by CCIT.” CUSG said that a new email with the corrected link would be sent out as soon as possible.
The Tiger reached out to Nerone at 7:41 a.m. for an update on the technical issue.
“I’m working closely with CCIT on the technical issue,” Nerone said. “It is my understanding that once the business day starts, the process will move quicker.”
Nerone said that the voting period would be extended another 24 hours for voting.
Megan Williams, a sophomore political science major, was one of the students who ran into the technical issue.
“I tried to vote that night, and it didn’t work,” Williams said.
The message that students received said, “Sorry, your username [insert username] was not found as an active Clemson student username.”
Matthew Spadaro, a senior marketing major, alerted The Tiger on Twitter at 9:50 a.m. that he was able to vote from a mobile device. The Tiger tweeted that information at 9:55 a.m. Katie Gilstrap, a sophomore computer science major, tweeted at 9:58 a.m. that “mine still says I’m not an active student.”
At 2:36 p.m. Wednesday, Nerone sent out an email that provided a new link for voting.
“We apologize for unforeseen technical difficulties,” Nerone said. “It was a student body-wide error that has now been resolved.” Nerone clarified that all undergraduate students, including seniors, had the right to vote.
Williams was able to vote successfully after she received the email. She said that she “understood the server being crowded might interrupt the voting process.”
Griffin Roberts, a junior marketing major, said that she was unable to vote at 12:30 a.m.
“It wasn’t that big of a deal to me that I wasn’t able to vote,” Roberts said. “I feel like CUSG isn’t as influential on campus as it would like to be.” Roberts had not tried to vote again at the time of the interview.
Chair of CUSG Health and Human Services and presidential candidate Emily Blackshire said at 1:28 p.m. that her campaign was handling the technical issue by spreading the word that she and her vice presidential nominee Hunter Burgess were still running. She said that they were “sending out a lot of ‘no, it’s not just you’ messages.”
Chair of CUSG Transportation Committee and presidential candidate Joey Wilson said that he and his vice presidential nominee Nicki Seidman were hopeful the technical issue would be fixed quickly. He also expressed concern.
“Nicki and I are afraid that this error will not only decrease the number of voters but [will] also confuse students,” Wilson said.
Fatema Bhaghat, a sophomore language and international health major, voted after the technical issue was resolved.
“I didn’t have any problem voting,” Bhagaht said.
Keith Tormey, a senior health sciences major, was not surprised by the technical issue.
“I kind of expected there to be issues,” Tormey said. He compared it to the ticketing issues that students faced at the beginning of football season.
Students who have any issues with voting are encouraged to contact Amanda Nerone at [email protected]. Election results will be announced in the Carillon Gardens at 4 p.m. on March 4. The announcement will be made open to the public.
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CUSG extends elections: Tech issues interrupt voting
Justin Lee Campbell, News Editor
March 3, 2016
The screenshot shows the message that students received when trying to vote before CCIT resolved the technical issue.
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