Today marks the beginning of elections for three new College of Arts and Sciences and one new Graduate School of Arts and Sciences representatives to the Student Council.
The polls are open through Friday. Students can vote at www.uvastudentcouncil.com/~vote.
The elections, which were supposed to be held Oct. 29 to Oct. 31, were postponed because of technical errors in the online voting system.
When Council updated their server over the summer, the voting system was not upgraded as well.
"The voting system was written sometime around 1995," Council Chief Technology Adviser Chris Husser said. "Originally it worked [with the new server], but somewhere along the line, it broke down."
"We had a makeshift system in place, but it wouldn't have worked well," Elections Committee Chairman Bryan Pettit said. "We were worried that people would be able to vote multiple times."
The six undergraduate candidates running are Tanay Amin, Daniel Burrows, Timothy Foley, Junehee Kim, Nirupa Shankan and Jamie Watson.
The candidate for GSAS representative, Erika Bryant, is running uncontested.
The six candidates represent a variety of concerns.
Second-year Amin has made adding more laptop computers to Clemons Library his focus.
First-year Shankar, who has lived in India for the past 18 years, said she particularly is concerned with needs of international students.
"A lot of international students don't have enough storage space to use over Winter Break," she said. She also expressed interest in arranging a bus to travel to Dulles International Airport before the winter holiday.
Three candidates, Burrows, Kim and Watson, share similar concerns on parking issues and the prevalence student apathy regarding Council and students affairs in general.
The trio has dubbed themselves the Peanut Party.
"Student Council is creating its own apathy by focusing on issues that students don't care about," Burrows said. He cited the recent controversy over the University's investments in Burma as an example of an issue with which he believes students are less concerned.
Fellow Peanut Party member Watson mentioned discrepancies in the honor code as another area of concern.
"What's required is a better relationship between Honor and [Council]," Watson said. He cited the fact that you cannot play intramural sports if you forget your student I.D. card as an example of the honor code working against students.
Third-year Foley cited his involvement in the Student-Athlete Mentor program as an experience that makes him a valuable candidate.
With the postponement of this fall's elections, Council is hoping for students to remember to cast their vote.
Low voter turnout "is always a concern," Pettit said. "In the last few years we've worked to increase that and have been successful. We always encourage people to get out and vote"
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