6A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2005
STUDENT SENATE
Polling sites may return
BY JOHN JORDAN
jjordan@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
The bill would reinstate voting sites at Strong Hall, Wescoe Beach, the Burge and Kansan Unions and Mrs. E's dining center The Students Rights committee amended the bill to include a site at the Student Recreation Fitness Center.
Students may hear about the elections on campus, Poppe said, but that doesn't mean a student will vote when he gets home.
Students may again be casting their ballots at polling sites on campus for the Student Senate elections next spring.
Physical polling sites weren't used for recent freshman elections or senate elections last spring. The only voting option was online.
A bill was introduced Wednesday in committee to permanently bring back the sites.
Stephanie Craig, Edmond, Okla., senior and holdover senator, wrote the bill because she said physical sites weren't supposed to be removed when senate went to online voting. The bill accidently removed the physical sites, Craig said.
After being debated, and passing in two senate committee meetings, the bill will now be voted on in full senate next week.
Kevin Poppe, Leawood senior, said polling sites on campus got more students to vote. He said he voted when the sites were up but not when elections were online.
"When you get home, you sit down and watch TV, you don't go to your computer to vote," Poppe said.
"I
really don't think we need anymore P.R. on election day."
In discussion, Craig said
Jason Boots
Plano, Texas senior
the sites are a non-partisan way to encourage student voting.
She said that during elections, having mostly candidates who were running for senate positions talking to students wasn't the best way to remind them to vote.
Having 90 coalition members on campus,compared with only nine nonpartisan elections, commission members could add bias to the process. Craig said.
In debate, some were concerned that the sites offer undue costs.
Jason Boots, Plano, Texas, senior and Student Executive Committee chairman, said if Senate brings back the sites, it would need to hire workers and pay for set-up costs for computers and Internet connections.
"I really don't think we need anymore P.R. on election day," Boots said.
Stephanie Sato, Baldwin City junior, and her husband Tusta Krsna Das perform the chanting of Maha Mantra on Wescoe Beach yesterday afternoon. The drum Tusta played was called a Mridanga, and Sato played a Harmonium. The two are part of a group that meets at 6 p.m. on Thursdays at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries.
Two workers at six sites for two days would cost over $1,500. Boots said.
Taylor Miller/KANSAN
He argued that this cost is only to add publicity for senate elections.
Inner Harmonium
Boots said students can already vote on campus at computer centers throughout campus.
- Edited by Kellis Robinett
LMH
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
Along with the surgical facility and birthing rooms, the hospital wanted to develop larger private rooms with better video and Internet technology, and renovate the intensive care unit.
She also said the hospital planned to build six new birthing rooms because of increased numbers in births. Last year, 1,120 infants were delivered at LMH. The new rooms would be able to accommodate 1,400 to 1,600 births per year.
Berendsen said the plans for the intensive care unit have not been solidified because they are still in the planning stages.
Archie Smith, senior vice president of Universal Construction Company, said he hoped to start demolition by the end of September and complete it by the end of this year.
He said he was still waiting to receive the final drawings from an architect.
Smith said he didn't know
when the project would begin or the extent of what his company would be doing. He said part of the existing hospital would be exposed to the demolition, and a semi-permanent solution to cover the project from view was being thought up.
Universal Construction Company would most likely work on the project, Berendsen said, but she could not fully commit to anything until LMH receives the permit.
— Edited by Jayme Wiley
Last year, 1,120 infants were delivered at LMH. The new rooms would be able to accommodate 1,400 to 1,600 births per year.