Release the vote count, students deserve to know

Although the winners of the Student Senate elections were announced last week, the vote count was not. We believe it should be and here’s why.

Student Government Association derives it existence from NSCS policy. NSCS policy requires that SGA follow all state laws.

While student election officials, primarily Chief Justice, Jon Lordino, senior of Chadron, are following Nebraska law by not releasing the vote count, they are not following the best practices set by the state.

Laura Strimple, communications director for the office of secretary of state, said Nebraska has no law requiring election polling results be publicly released. However, Strimple added that the state has released those numbers since 1996.

Additionally, while there is no law that requires Lordino to release the vote count, there also is no law that states he MUST keep the count secret.

In addition, because there is no law that states the results must be kept secret, it is in the best interests of Lordino and others to release the count in order to avoid accusations of miss conduct.

As we said, election officials are following the letter of law, but not the spirit of the law. We believe they owe it to the students to release the numbers because students  right to know the vote count is far greater than any argument to keep it secret.

Besides, it’s un-American to keep the count secret.

In the case of a recount, Nebraska statute 32-1119 provides for automatic recount only:

“If it appears as evidenced by the abstract of votes that any candidate failed to be nominated or elected by a margin of (a) one percent or less of the votes received by the candidate who received the highest number of votes for the office at an election in which more than five hundred total votes were cast or (b) two percent or less of the votes received by the candidate who received the highest number of votes for the office at an election in which five hundred or less total votes were cast, then such candidate shall be entitled to a recount.”

How is it possible to know if a recount should be automatic, or is even necessary, viable or legitimate, if the vote count is not released publicly?

For 18 years, Nebraska has reported the winner in each election, and the number of votes each candidate earned. CSC’s 3,000 students deserve the same consideration from its student election officials, especially since the winning candidates are responsible for allocating or spending student activity fees.

Our position about releasing election numbers extends beyond student election officials. We are calling on Sen. Al Davis of District 43, which includes Chadron, and all unicameral legislators, to make releasing election polling numbers the law of the land, not just a practice of the land.