After hours of debate and amendment proposals, Government of the Student Body senators remained split Wednesday night on the issue of Internet voting.

Responding to advances in technology, GSB considered a bill to incorporate online voting for elections in hopes of increasing voter turnout.

Debate was continuing as of press time.

At the beginning of GSB’s meeting, Michel Pogge, off campus, gave a PowerPoint presentation highlighting the benefits, process and potential problems associated with Internet voting.

Online voting would provide all students with convenient access to voting sites, allowing students studying abroad or involved in internships to vote worldwide, Pogge said. An aim of the easy access is to build on last year’s 6 percent voter turnout.

Although using the Internet creates potential problems, including unethical voting or network failure, several security precautions have been proposed to deflect these problems.

A projected cost comparison highlighted in the presentation showed about $800 in savings by incorporating the electronic voting. Furthermore, the start-up costs for online voting would be made up in about six years, according to Pogge’s presentation.

Despite the benefits, several senators took issue with students whose votes would be uninformed and influenced by their peers.

“We would get more votes, but would they be quality votes?” asked Seth Miller, off campus.

Jay Young, freshman in computer engineering, saw electronic voting as a reflection on society.

“This reinforces the lazy-minded people of the United States of America,” he said.

“The 6 percent who vote are the 6 percent who care,” Young said. “A majority of the people wouldn’t even know who they were voting for, and that’s not a fair representation.”

However, other senators thought increased access to voting would increase voter participation and interest in GSB.

“There’s a lot of people excited about this,” said T.J. Schneider, RCA. “We are going to students instead of making students come to us.”

Luke DeKoster, RCA, addressed the issue of peer-influenced voting, maintaining it could increase voter awareness.

“People need a rationale to do something,” he said. “They won’t do it if they don’t have a reason.”

The vast range of opinion and heated debate on the issue divided the senators, postponing a definite decision until after press time.