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DOYLE: Why is no one talking about the UBE?

Students should be concerned about the influence of the University Board of Elections

The University Board of Elections is the most powerful organization on Grounds that nobody talks about. The UBE controls the process of student elections, from applications to run for office to voting. Why is there so little discussion of an organization that holds such a subtle but powerful influence on organizations central to the University? The only article I was able to find that had any substantial conversation about the UBE in recent memory is a lead editorial from Spring 2013. Even that article, which is highly critical of the UBE, evidently did not bring about the needed conversation. There are issues surrounding the UBE that we should be discussing — such as their troubles with holding elections and the possible biases of the UBE’s application process.

Cavalier Daily Focus writer Grayson Kemper recently wrote a great article on the UBE, giving a comprehensive view of the organization as well as highlighting some areas where the UBE might be inefficient. The article pointed out that one of the main goals of the organization is to have little to no uncontested races. Despite most elections being contested this year, there were still 15 people running with no opponent. I acknowledge it is hard to get two people to run for every position every year, but a consistent trend of uncontested seats is a failure of one of the UBE’s basic goals. Troublingly, Kemper points out there is a history of having voting services crash during elections. Though most students still manage to vote if they are determined to do so, frustration with the voting website may cause many not to vote. This is a failure that the UBE is working on but still has yet to fully eliminate.

There are also problems that could develop in the UBE down the road. The outgoing chairs of organizations the UBE oversees, such as the Honor Committee, actually take part in helping to select the next year’s members. There is a dangerous potential conflict of interest in letting people pick their own overseer. Without even meaning to, the chairs will pick people of whom they approve. While this does not seem to be a prevalent problem at the moment, there still is the potential for it to become one. I’d rather this issue be addressed before it causes a scandal, such as the one that ousted the UBE’s predecessors, the Election Committee. In 2003 a student campaigning for Student Council president was assaulted, prompting a report about how elections were run at the University. This report revealed significant malfeasance by the Election Committee which lead to its disbandment and the creation of the UBE. The Election Committee’s ineffectiveness was enabled by the lack of attention it received in the University community — a problem UBE shares now.

It is clear the UBE is trying its best to run student elections, but the internal perspective members of the UBE inherently have makes it hard for them to see some of the more fundamental issues the organization faces. This is why further discussion is needed in the community. When students are given issues on which to deliberate they will examine them to an extreme and then not hesitate to put pressure on organizations to institute changes — the Honor referenda are a perfect example. People are willing to confront these issues, but their energies just need to be directed in the right area.

Even after elections, there is a huge debate going on in the University community about the Honor referenda. Within this debate most people take for granted the process that put these referenda on the ballot and the reliability of the voting system that let students come to a decision on this issue. We need to stop overlooking this essential and powerful organization. The UBE has issues we, as a community, need to talk about in order to maintain the integrity of our elections and ensure that we have a capable, qualified student government.

Bobby Doyle is a Viewpoint writer.

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