The AMS is updating the software it and undergraduate societies use in elections to a subscription model that will run the AMS a yearly fee.
Who will pay the cost of the subscription fee is currently up for debate, with suggestions that it could be undergraduate societies that will foot the bill.
“The question is how do we make it fair for everyone?” said AMS President Cole Evans. “Do we provide it for free? Since constituencies use the system, do we get them to chip in? We haven’t necessarily decided.”
The AMS has been using Simply Voting since 2012, where it paid an upfront cost of $43,000 out of its budget for the service.
The society will need to update its Simply Voting platform to remain supported by the software. The exact yearly cost of Simply Voting’s new model is not yet known. However, AMS meeting minutes from December 2 suggest that the cost could be $5,500 per year, but negotiations are underway. On top of this yearly fee, there would also be a one-time cost to switch over.
The meeting minutes also suggest that, should constituencies pay the fee, it would amount to “a few hundred dollars” per society.
Evans said that if constituencies end up paying, the amount paid by each society would be determined by its annual revenue.
“Constituencies are very different to each other,” said Evans. “Some bring in close to a million in fee revenue each year and some a couple hundred thousand. Therefore the price sharing model adopted would be proportional.”
The Engineering Undergraduate Society is fine with footing the bill, said President Emma Dodyk. For the past five years the society has set aside money in the budget for Simply Voting fees.
“We are pleased with the functions that Simply Voting provides and it is reasonable for our organization to pay for a service that provides value to us and our constituents,” said Dodyk in an emailed statement.
President of the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) Nealie Alavie also said she is happy to pay a few hundred dollars. However, if there are costs involved, she would expect improvements to the service.
“Since we get access to Simply Voting for free, if we begin to pay, I would like to see our experience with Simply Voting improve,” said Alavie in an emailed statement.
Alavie points to some technical glitches AUS elections administrators experienced when using the software as areas of improvement.
“If we are to pay, I look forward to the guarantee of a more seamless and efficient elections process.”
AMS Chief Elections Officer Isabelle Ava-Pointon stated that a decision about who will pay the fee will be made after the upcoming spring elections.
Ava-Pointon added that the Simply Voting software will continue to work and that it can be used indefinitely.
“Our priority right now is getting through this election season and once things have calmed down we’ll be looking at this,” said Ava-Pointon.