This year the Inter-Residence Hall Association is introducing online voting for its elections. Students can vote from midnight tonight to Tuesday at midnight by logging onto www.vote.iastate.edu.

IRHA Vice President Steve Skutnik said a goal of providing online voting this year was to increase voter turnout through a simplified system of voting. He said logistical issues were also considered, such as the difficulty of finding volunteers to man the polls.

“One of my personal reasons behind seeking the online system, though, was to push IRHA forward into the next age of technology,” he said. “Technology is often times an underutilized resource in reaching our constituents – and frankly – using a system that’s been around for over 200 years simply wasn’t cutting it.”

The first slate on the ballot is Paul Duncan and David Boike. Duncan is a junior in transportation logistics from Schaumburg, Ill. Boike is a sophomore in electrical engineering from Dike, Iowa.

The slate’s official platform addresses parking, food service and the Internet cap. Duncan said they plan to work to improve parking, not only the enforcement of regulations but also the manner in which parking is divided up.

“At house meetings, we have discovered varying wants and needs for parking,” he said.

“For example, Oak-Elm wants more 15-minute loading spots.”

Duncan said there is always an issue of quality with food service, but he has also heard complaints regarding customer service at food service.

The pair plans to find problems with the Internet cap, Boike said, and find solutions for those.

Here are a few of the Duncan/Boike slate’s main points:

Veishea: The slate said students are responsible enough to handle themselves and Veishea should be wet.

Tuition increase: The slate is opposed to any sort of tuition increase and plans to work with the Government of the Student Body to bring tuition down.

Storage policy: The slate said it will push for the policy to happen, and it is looking forward to it going into effect.

Involvement: Duncan and Boike are GSB Finance Committee At-Larges, and Duncan is the president and co-founder of the Railroad club.

The second slate is Michael Mikkelsen, junior in computer science from Gladstone, Mo., and Stan Perdios, junior in journalism and mass communication from Anamosa.

Perdios withdrew from the race March 26 but will be included on the ballot due to a IRHA Parliament decision last week.

Mikkelsen’s platform addresses new ideas, state funding, communication, the Internet cap and Veishea.

“I don’t think the Res Halls should be considered part of `campus’ in regards to the alcohol-free campus during Veishea,” he said.

Mikkelsen also wants to increase awareness of IRHA on campus.

“There are too many people who don’t know what IRHA is, what we do, and what we are working on,” he said.

Here are a some of the other points of the Mikkelson/Perdios slate:

Veishea: Mikkelsen plans to get residence hall students more involved.

State funding: The slate wants to work with the Iowa Legislature to minimize budget cuts.

Communication: Mikkelsen wants the IRHA Web site to be more informative about IRHA’s activities for students.

Internet Cap: Mikkelsen will work with AIT at Iowa State and an organization called SARA, or Students Against Restricting Academia, to see that changes are made to the policy.