For a number of years, undergraduates at Hopkins elected their student representatives through the single transferable vote (STV) procedure. Under this system, voters were asked to rank candidates in order of preference rather than voting for one candidate.
If a voter's first choice candidate is eliminated, candidates he selected as a second choice then receive first place votes. This proceeds in recurring rounds until one candidate remains, eliminating the need for a runoff.
The somewhat abstract process is useful in elections such as the freshman class presidential race where the sheer number of candidates prohibits any one from garnering a majority. However, many times last year, the process seemed to out-burden its usefulness. The system further obscured already complicated issues of disqualified candidates and multiple registered votes from one voter.
This year the Board of Elections (BoE) took a step to address this issue and instituted the traditional single vote system for the freshman class elections. We commend them for abandoning the needlessly complicated system and implementing a platform friendlier to students.
In an election for a single position, students should not be encouraged to take an indecisive stance and vote for multiple candidates. A single vote for a single candidate shows that candidate earned the voter's support. Too often, student elections at Hopkins were marred by unrepresentative results.
With the new system, candidates must campaign harder to win people over instead of simply winning over a share of a person's support. No longer can voters settle for indecisively voting for multiple candidates. Students are forced to make clear decisions and take more responsibility for an election's outcome.
We are encouraged by a much higher turnout at the polls this year: a 65 percent increase from last year's freshman election. However, the BoE should be aware that with the new system's simplicity, they do reopen the possibility of needing runoff elections to break ties.
The BoE made a good judgment to replace the confusing STV system with the simple, traditional single vote system. We hope that any election issues that may arise in respect to vote tallies will be treated with similar good judgment.
