Survey-style voting on the official Iowa State Web site has been operating for the past three years, giving students an opportunity to voice their opinions on various topics.

“The survey questions are just a way to make the Web site more interactive and give people a chance to say how they feel,” said John McCarroll, director of University Relations.

The online questions deal with issues that would be of interest to people at the university. The tallies can be viewed as the votes are cast.

McCarroll said there aren’t any plans for anyone to use the voting for any serious analysis. The votes aren’t monitored for who is voting or how many times they vote, so the results may not be accurate.

“It is intended to be fun and make people feel involved,” he said.

The current question posted asks if college class notes should be available on commercial Web sites. Past surveys have included questions about food service, the naming of Jack Trice Stadium or a favorite piece of art on campus.

McCarroll said they hope to have three or more different questions posted throughout the year.

Although McCarroll said the surveys are intended to entertain and inform, some students said they don’t understand the purpose of the interactive surveys.

“It’s a great idea for students to be able to express their opinions, but considering the votes are not taken seriously, I don’t see the point,” said Amber Rasmussen, freshman in psychology.

Matt Guillaume, junior in pre-business, said it’s nice to be able to vote online on issues, but it frustrates him that his vote doesn’t count in any official matters.

“It doesn’t matter if we can vote online or not because the students don’t get a say in the issue anyway — for instance, the Veishea vote,” he said.