In an attempt to make the decisions of A.S. Council more accessible to the general student body, Student Organized Voter Access Committee has launched a new website named the Online Voter Access Link. OVAL, according to its creators, seeks to especially serve those who have time constraints and can’t be physically present to offer their opinions to Council.
The OVAL website will be connected to SOVAC’s main website and will poll students, who log in through Single Sign-On, on university issues that go before A.S. Council. OVAL will tally votes while displaying the results in real time so students have continuous coverage of the issues they are faced with.
“This new program is intended to provide all students an equal opportunity to voice their opinion on issues that A.S. Council will address,” newly appointed SOVAC President Kyle Heiskala said.
SOVAC’s first resolution that UCSD students could vote on was the Resolution in Support of UC San Diego Corporate Accountability through Divestment from Corporations Profiting from the Illegal Occupation, Siege and Blockade of Palestine. Though launched on Feb. 25, the resolution had some technical issues that caused it to be temporarily out of commission early in the week. According to Heiskala, the site was operational again on Tuesday.
Heiskala also said that the system is in “beta testing” and that some unwanted features, such as the ability for graduate students and alumni to participate, were being addressed.
The SOVAC subordinate is expected to launch before spring quarter begins, just in time to be implemented before a new batch of council members are elected into their terms.
SOVAC seeks to maximize participation with OVAL so that it can be taken as an accurate measure of student opinion.
“It is SOVAC’s hope that this will dramatically increase student involvement,” Heiskala said.
SOVAC also hopes that in addition to increasing student involvement, OVAL will also increase student awareness. The hope is that through OVAL, students will be able to learn more about the types of issues that our student government reviews in general, from the mundane to those of paramount importance.
While several A.S. executives and senators have already been able to provide their feedback, Heiskala said SOVAC is relying on students to utilize the comments feature of the site to help develop it.
“We need feedback to make this program work,” Heiskala said. “All feedback on the site will be highly considered.”