As voting began yesterday on a student fee referendum, some of the people managing polling booths on campus were the same students who have spent recent weeks lobbying for the fee's passage.
However, of about 10 voters questioned during a half hour near student union polling places, only two said the fee supporters' presence unnerved them, and student government officials defended the poll workers' objectivity.
The Associated Students of the University of Arizona elections code prohibits campaigning within 75 feet of an established polling place.
Fee supporters, however, didn't consider their action campaigning because they were helping fix a technical problem as well as encouraging people to vote.
ASUA Sen. Nick Bajema, who helped create the fee proposal, said he was helping students log in and out of the voting Web site, which is accessed through Student Link.
Bajema said many times the computers would not log students out of Student Link, and he was making sure the process was completed before another student attempted to vote.
The computer problem has been fixed, Bajema said.
While Bajema said he understood that being so close to the voting stations could make people uncomfortable, he, along with other fee supporters, were simply encouraging students to vote.
"We are encouraging students to inform themselves," said Greg Billings, president of the University Activities Board. Billings, along with Bajema, spent time at polling booths yesterday.
Billings denied any bias in voting processes, saying student leaders were only handing out fact sheets and telling students about the fee. He also said as far as he knows he hadn't heard about anyone looking over students' shoulders while they were voting.
Observations from the polling place tell a similar story. The fee supporters, standing near computer voting stations in the Student Union Memorial Center, encouraged students walking by to vote, but a reporter observing the situation didn't witness any active campaigning at the polling place.
Still, one student said she wanted a little more privacy.
"I think they are nice, but it is very uncomfortable and it's intimidating with them standing over you. It's nice to have the stations out, but they should step away while people are voting," said Elaine Kozuka, a molecular and cellular biology senior.
Kozuka voted in a booth at the north end of the Student Union Memorial Center near the canyon, which consisted of a table with two laptops positioned in different directions.
J.P. Benedict, ASUA president, said he could see where students might feel uncomfortable, but that no one was intentionally trying to push students to vote in either direction on the fee.
He said there is nothing wrong with student activity fee leaders running the election.
"In my experience they are able to stay objective," he said.
Bajema said no student was pressured to vote either way or even to vote at all.
"Obviously I am for the fee, but I am not pushing my opinion," he said. "We don't want to make people vote if they are uncomfortable."
Forest Melton, a pre-physiological sciences senior, said he did not feel uncomfortable voting at the polling stations.
Melton said the people at the booths asked if he had any questions and then let him be.
"It was definitely comfortable," he said.
Suzana Diaz, a communication sophomore, said the booth being out in the open was a little odd.
She said if there had been smaller booths, voting would have been more comfortable.
Other voting stations were situated in the Wilbur's Underground computer lounge, the campus link in the food court, and the commuter student lounge on the fourth floor of the student union.
Approximately 300 students used the voting station at the south end of the Student Union Memorial Center, Bajema said.
The booths will be available for the remainder of the elections. A new voting booth will be set up in the middle of the food court tomorrow.
Besides the voting booths, Billings said they have put fliers in every on-campus mailbox as well as in classrooms. They have also had flash advertising on the Plasma TVs in the union.
Arrows on the ground point to places where students can vote.
Short e-mails have also been sent out over campus listservs informing students of the fee and directing them to more information.
Student leaders will continue visiting fraternity and sorority houses and clubs, and posting fliers on kiosks, Billings said.
"We're utilizing every avenue we have," he said. "We're going to pump it up."
The $15 per semester activity fee would generate between $1.2 and $1.4 million annually to bring big-name concerts and speakers to campus.
Students can vote today and tomorrow at www.asua.arizona.edu.
- Jesse Lewis and David Harden contributed to this report.