As students on campus logged onto WebSTAC to vote Wednesday and Thursday, their counterparts studying abroad were dismayed to find that they, in fact, could not participate in this year’s elections.
“I tried voting on WebSTAC for the Student Union elections and was denied access. It said I was ineligible to vote,” said junior Erin Harkless, a School of Business student and former Forum Editor for Student Life.
Harkless said she got in contact with other Washington University students studying abroad and found that they could not vote, either. She said she tried again Thursday morning and was still unable to access the ballot.
“I don’t believe I have a reason to be deemed ineligible, and find it strange that this is happening to other students abroad,” said Harkless.
Junior Suzy Agin, another School of Business student studying in London, said that she was frustrated at being a rising senior unable to vote. She stressed the fact that students abroad are unable to vote for the people who will plan important events senior year
“It’s unfair that we don’t have a say in our final year as to who will be leading our class,” said Agin. “These are the people who are planning big events like Senior Week.”
SU Vice President Kenny Edwards, a senior, said that he ran across this voting problem during last year’s elections. He said he had friends abroad who he urged to vote, but they told him that they were unable to.
Edwards explained that a variety of reasons can render students unable to vote. He said that last year, those involved with the election found out that students abroad do not pay their student activities fee, thus making them ineligible to vote on SU matters. In addition, students in the School of Business who fall below 12 credits are classified as part-time students, and therefore cannot vote.
Election Commissioner Spencer Young, a sophomore, said that the inability of students to vote from abroad is explained in the Student Union Constitution.
“In the constitution it says that if you cannot pay your activities fee, you are not ‘a student in good standing,'” said Young. “Basically you’re not allowed to participate in elections. And it sort of makes sense, because if you’re abroad then what’s the point of paying your student activities fee because you’re not here to actually experience [activities]?”
Young said that a constitutional amendment could help fix this problem, but that he would want to talk more with students who are studying abroad to gauge their concerns.
“I think that more research has to be done before we can say, ‘We need to fix this,’ because I think it would be a paternalistic thing to force other people to pay money that they might be fine not paying,” said Young.
SU President Michelle Miller, a senior, said she also thinks that the issue deserves to be looked into.
“We have never told students that they cannot vote,” said Miller. “We still serve student interests when they are abroad or when they are part-time students. But technically, SU represents all students who are a part of the organization, and paying the fee makes you a part of the organization.”
However, she added that if this is a concern to students, SU will likely look into the voting problems. Her concern is how students would be incorporated-whether they would have to pay a full fee, or only a partial fee. She said she would not “want students to have to pay only to vote.”
For its part, the Office of International Studies said that it did not know of these problems until Thursday morning, according to Assistant Director of International Studies Amy Suelzer. She said that the Office was aware that students did not pay the activities fee as a part of their program fees when going abroad, but that it was “unaware that there were restrictions on student activities as a consequence of study abroad involvement.”
“In the future, we will be more proactive to letting students know this will be one ramification of going abroad,” said Suelzer. “It might also be useful to have a conversation with the office that issues the student fee and find out what activities are still covered, and to see if anything can be done for students abroad who want to vote.”
The future, though, is of concern to students abroad now. Junior Andy Kennedy, who is studying in Spain, said that he would like to have actions taken to help students this year who want to participate in their student government.
“I think that something should be done, such as allowing us another chance to vote; especially if such a major ballot initiative as that of the paying of SU officers passes or is defeated by a slim margin,” said Kennedy.
Additional reporting by Erin Harkless in London and Sarah Ulrey in Madrid.