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GM Week Elections preparation, improvements

By Stefanie Warner March 27, 2019

Hi, RPI! With Grand Marshal Week quickly approaching, and thinking back to last year’s election, I just wanted to give you all an update on the elections preparations and improvements that the Student Senate and the Elections Commission have been working on.

Throughout this past year, the Elections Commission has made a great effort to rectify the issues that were found during the 2018 GM Week elections. In addition to striving to create a thorough—yet easily navigable—elections policy and procedures, they have also worked with the Web Technologies Group and the Union Systems Administrators to ensure that the election is using the best technical voting system. This past Friday, March 15, the Elections Commission held a test run of the Rensselaer Union Voting Suite. This test run was conducted with the intention of finding any vulnerabilities with the voting system through strategic testing and aggravation. The Elections Commission was able to identify a couple of methods in which voter tampering could potentially affect the vote count, and although somewhat obscure, they have worked with the Union Systems Administrators to thoroughly address the concerns. With that said, the Elections Commission firmly believes that the Rensselaer Union Voting Suite is the best, most secure option for the 2019 GM Week election, and that no issues found during the test run—or prior to it—will reoccur during election day.

It is bittersweet that my term as Grand Marshal is coming to an end, but I am very much looking forward to the exciting events that are planned for GM Week 2019! If you have not already taken a look at the GM Week schedule, check out all of the events that will be going on around campus. As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to reach out to me at gm@rpi.edu!