Election Chaos
Several examples of severe election slip-ups have marked this year’s Student Parliament Election.
When ballot boxes were placed at the Faculty of Social Sciences (SV) last Thursday, Bendik Fiskå was ready to go to the polls but soon noticed that something was wrong.
«After I had ticked my voting slip, I hesitated because I had expected some kind of inspection stamp as evidence that I had cast my vote but the election officer merely told me to fold the slip and throw it in the box,» he states.
Fiskå explained this to a mate from Uni at International Studies, Tor Håkon Tordhol, who decided to test the quality of the election.
«I went to the polls ten minutes after Bendik had cast his vote. First, I tried to show my current student ID, that didn’t work, so I tried to show my ID from last year, and that was fine,» Tordhol explains.
«Tick the Box Yourself»
Due to the slip-ups the two students got a chance to cast a second vote in the Student Parliament Election, which they were not particularly happy about.
«A casting vote is quite significant when few people vote, which is the case in the Student Parliament Election. When an election is due, it should be a proper one,» Fiskå underlines.
Universitas reports of two other examples of election slip-ups at SV where two students got to vote without presenting their student IDs. The Faculty of Mathematics and Social Sciences (MatNat) has also slipped up in procedures. When Informatics student Espen Bjerkås voted Monday, he was not asked to present his student ID.
«I filled in my voting slip and put it in the box without any query of an inspection stamp. Seeing as how I was not carrying any ID, I was told to tick the box myself when I got back home,» he says.
Re-Election?
Leader of the political left-wing group Venstrealliansen, Benjamin Larsen, is not very pleased with election procedures allowing aforementioned examples.
«Of course this is a problem. It is a pity that these slip-ups are made since people may start to question the credibility of the election. This may weaken the students` trust in student democracy,» he says.
«Should there be consequences?»
«Yes, of course! It should firstly be noted in the pollbook, and secondly if any indication of more than one example is shown, a re-election should be considered,» Larsen makes clear.
«Will this weaken Student Parliament politicians` latitude?»
«No, I generally find that hard to imagine. Hypothetically speaking, situations where people are elected into office by a small margin may arise, and thus will slip-ups like these matter but I hope these are fairly separate incidents,» Larsen says.
Political scientist and psephologist Hanne Marte Narud agrees with Larsen that something has to be done.
«You first have to establish how serious this is. If it is serious, I would consider a re-election,» she says.
«Filed a Complaint»
The highest-ranking election officer from the Student Parliament, Elisabeth Thorkildsen of Moderat Gruppe (a right-wing political group), does not wish to comment on the matter since the election committees at the faculties are responsible for practical procedures concerning the election. However, she says that the Election Committee will take the matter into consideration before polls close and see whether this has any effect on the outcome of the election.
The responsible election officer at SV, Ole Totland, is personally not familiar with any action from the Election Committee prior to counting and points out that any complaints has to be filed to the Election Committee. Neither Totland, nor the responsible election officer at MatNat, Bent Lorentzen, knew of the topical incidents before Universitas came in touch, and they point out that all election officers have been properly trained.
«They have been instructed on practical voting procedures. A fairly good guide at the back of the ballot box has been installed,» Lorentzen says. Nevertheless, Universitas can report of several incidents where officers have not been able to answer questions concerning how to cumulate or delete candidates.
«Should attitudes of officers be changed?»
«I have personally been in touch with all officers here at SV and cannot complain about their attitudes,» Totland says.
Student Parliament Election, he was not checked for student ID. And his mate Tor Håkon Tordhol voted by means of last year’s ID. This slip-up allowed both of them to vote twice in the same Student Parliament Election.
