Election difficulties may affect partnership with OrgSync

The recent Associated Student Government election through OrgSync created some problems with voter turnout, leading to questions about Colorado Mesa University’s partnership with OrgSync, which is set to expire in 2020.

OrgSync is an outside entity that offers its resources to CMU to connect with its students and give them some benefits. One of these benefits was being able to vote in the recent 2018 ASG election.

However, ASG President Ben Linzey called accessing OrgSync a challenge for voting in the election. In The Criterion article “Flores wins presidency,” Linzey said, “I would say OrgSync definitely hindered the number of people coming to vote.”

As a third party partnership, there is a set amount of time that the school and OrgSync agreed on to work with each other, which lasts until 2020. At that time, CMU will decide whether to continue working with OrgSync or end the partnership.

“There is obviously discussion about what do we want, what do we want to get better at, how do we and to grow and where do we think it’s going to go,” Director of Student Life Shane O’Neill said. “Where we are going with it, we are not really sure yet.”

Multiple things are considered by the school when they eventually make the decision in two years. The recent effect on the election with voters may help to determine that. Several students that were attempting to vote had some confusion with OrgSync and weren’t able to vote by the deadline, showing that if there is another site that could handle this better, it could cause concern for OrgSync’s longevity with CMU.

“What happened was there was a hyperlink that took the students to the wrong place,” O’Neill said. “In terms of the election, I don’t know if it had a real negative impact. This has been one of the highest turnouts we have had in quite some time.”

The agreement with OrgSync still has two years until it expires, providing time to work out kinks in the program which may impact CMU’s decision.