We’re using this space to try to convince ASUO and the campus community that it benefits them to allow the press to observe while they determine election results. Allowing media oversight helps prove our government officials aren’t hiding anything. In February’s ASUO primary election, the press was barred from the room during the printing of results. One might ask, did barring the media make any difference in the outcome of the election? The answer is, how would we know if we weren’t there to find out?
We could take into consideration the legalities of being barred from overseeing the results of the elections. For example, we could argue that the Oregon Public Meetings Law and the First Amendment justify our right to watch the process. And the ASUO could, as they did last year, argue that, technically, the law doesn’t exactly apply to them in every detail.
Regardless of semantics, the ASUO cloaked the results-gathering process in secrecy. The results could easily have been altered or mistakes made when, to quote the ASUO Elections Board, “the e-board looked over a printout of results… typed them up and posted them.”
But we don’t intend to argue legalities. We’re not, as of yet, intending to file a grievance with the ASUO Constitution Court. However, new elections are pending, and a new ASUO Executive is in office, with a new elections board. Our job is to inform the community as soon as results are available, and we are now wondering if we will be allowed to oversee the processing of election results.
Elections are the cornerstone of our democracy, and the elections process at all levels has been under increasing scrutiny since the 2000 presidential election. In the March ASUO election, only 10.5 percent of the student body voted.
One way to increase participation is to increase credibility. By letting the press observe the gathering of results, student voters may be less likely to believe the ASUO has something to hide. The ASUO is under the same scrutiny as any other governing body, and with that we’d hope they would want to freely provide information and allow oversight.
Please, ASUO, don’t repeat last year’s mistake. We take our First Amendment rights seriously, and students have a right to be informed.