Feb. 9, 1997

• dean on scene
  
• web voting as a comatose has-been
  
• web voting as a senate substitute
  
• TCI v. RHA?
  
• Spice Channel

  
  

It seems a candle factory caught fire around 10:00 p.m. Yes, a candle factory.

Firefighters kept the blaze from spreading to other buildings in the industrial area and had things pretty much extinguished by half past midnight.

It is not clear why, exactly, Dean showed up. She was, however, gracious enough to give a Daily Cal reporter a brief interview. Good thing for the reporter: Dean was at the fire a full half hour before he was.

Why those netwerk (sic) warriors would care one cycle about student government remains unclear. It is also unclear whether the proposed voting system would run via encrypted http connections, and thus be accessible via high-end web browsers, or thru a de dicated client, like the campus' very own BearFacts system. Campus network officials have said that the latter may be more secure.

But one of the key incentives for putting polling systems online in time for the ASUC's April elections was to work around a challenge presented by the new campus student identification cards: they can't be punched, like the old ones, to ensure that stude nts don't vote twice. ASUC elections officials now say they have received assurances from the university that the new cards can be use to prevent voter fraud. Presumably, students' cards will be swiped through an electronic reader at polling locati ons. The electronic reader will enter a voter's student identification number into a computer database -- unless the number is already in the database, indicating that the student has already voted.

It would naive to think that UC Berkeley students would take the time to vote on more than one (or even just one) senate bill. But it would be a grand experiment. A stab at Perotian direct democracy.

Why not? Most student groups receive a minor fraction of their budget from the association. They use the ASUC for accounting, office space and the Student Government Seal of Approval (sponsorhip). And there is only one truly important bill all year, the budget. If things get bungled one year by a failed political experiment, big deal. We wouldn't be any worse off, really, than we are now.

Senators could even build in some safety valves. For instance, an online popular vote could be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the senate. The president could retain veto power.

But direct electronic democracy would allow the senate and executive officer to focus on the student store and keep the business side in line.

Yes, this is a pipe dream. But the semesterly elections could happen.

Look for click-thru banner ads for ASUC senatorial candidates on the Daily Cal's website this time next year.

Not if you live in the residence halls. Yes, you were promised 50+ channels at the start of academic year. Then by November. Then by the end of the winter break.

TCI has not yet delivered. Depending on who you ask, you can blame the telecom giant, since recent layoffs have left them understaffed (according to their own statements), or the camous' very own Information Systems and T echnology department, who now want to modify the cable system to provide direct Internet access to dorms not yet wired to the network.

Residence Hall Assembly President Mel Ochoa says to expect a big turnout at Monday night's RHA meeting in the senate chambers, where the TCI administrator in charge of the UC Berkeley dorm project will be answering questions.

What exactly is a "big turnout," in RHA terms?