The ASUO Elections Board plans to look closely at state law this year to determine whether the media will be allowed to watch board members print and post elections results, former and current ASUO officials said.
ASUO Campus Organizer Courtney Hight, the former ASUO elections coordinator, has been advising newly appointed Elections Coordinator Andrea Hall in organizing elections this year.
Hall failed to reply to interview requests by the Emerald, but Hight said Hall has made no decision on whether media will be allowed to watch the full process this year.
Last year, Oregon Commentator publisher Bret Jacobson filed a grievance when media representatives from the Commentator and Emerald were not allowed to see the final ballot process — when the DuckWeb system finishes tallying the votes and election board members print and post the results.
Jacobson argued in the grievance that turning away media was a violation of Oregon public meetings law, saying that because the elections board is a public board, the media should be allowed to cover the full election process.
However, since the grievance did not state that ASUO is bound to follow state meetings law, the ASUO Constitution Court threw out the grievance without ruling on the issue.
In a guest commentary to the Emerald in November, the elections board argued that the voting system is completely
automated, and because the elections board doesn’t actually count ballots, it was not necessary to allow media representatives into the process.
“From the state law last year, we were in the right,” Hight said.
Student Press Law Center Executive Director Mark Goodman said ASUO’s interpretation of the law was worrisome.
Goodman said the public can only have confidence in an election system if it is allowed to know what happens.
“I think any election process is suspect if it’s conducted in secret,” he said.
Goodman added that the media should be allowed to observe and report the ballot process in a “nondisruptive” way.
Hight said the DuckWeb voting system automatically tallies votes and, once voting is closed, the elections board merely prints out the results and posts them.
The elections board also argued that since posting results doesn’t require a quorum, it does not constitute a “meeting” under the Oregon public meetings law, in which case the elections board would be required to allow media representation.
This year, Jacobson still argues that unless the ballot count is part of collective bargaining, personnel matters or other sensitive issues, the media should be allowed to watch the board finalize the election.
As Hall investigates the issue, Jacobson said the Commentator will try to gain access again this year, and didn’t rule out filing another grievance.
“We’ll try again this year to provide students with an accurate account of events from their student government,” he said.