Does ASM need election monitors?

In Thursday's Badger Herald, I wrote a column heavily criticizing the Associated Students of Madison, decrying the group's annual spring election as a no-choice referendum on the continuation of the status quo.

But just when you think things cannot get any worse, they, of course, do.

At 1:00 PM Thursday afternoon, ASM was forced to shut down its election prematurely, tossing out countless ballots and being forced to start much of it again at a later date due to “voting irregularities.” Apparently the ASM offices of today and Chicago of the early 1960s have more in common than I once thought.

There will be extensive coverage of this fiasco in tomorrow's (Thursday's) Badger Herald.

Meanwhile, Jenna, over at Right Off the Shore, says it well:

For the record, this shows how inept and irresponsible ASM is.

I agree with her for the most part, though I would argue a few points of nuance. Having just called for the abolition of ASM for entirely different reasons in today's paper, I do stand by the concept of the University of Wisconsin being a better place without this sad excuse for a student government. As for the election fiasco, I, too, look forward to assigning the proper blame and have little doubt that ASM's hands will soon be riddled with the blood of discarded ballots. But for now, against my better sense, I am holding out judgment on this latest disaster until a few more facts are in.