Shoulders elected to 3rd trustee term

After being chosen for a third term as trustee on Monday, Patrick Shoulders said he has both long- and short-term goals he hopes to achieve.\nShoulders, who won with 14,507 of 32,552 votes cast, said he plans to work with IU President Michael McRobbie on the agenda McRobbie announced at the beginning of his presidency last year.\nAlumni had the option in this year’s election of voting online for the first time. Shoulders said he thought that aspect of voting went well.\n“It seemed to have been absolutely wonderful,” he said. “It was easy to use, and appears to have functioned without error.”\nAlumni Trustee Election Coordinator Shawny Taysom said there were only a couple of minor problems with online voting. The main problem, she said, was that the University’s firewall was set too high, causing a few alumni to be unable to log in to the board of trustees’ Web site. She added that some alumni returned paper ballots after voting online, but due to an identification number each person received, the double votes were noticed and not counted.\nIndiana attorney and trustee candidate Kelly Smith received 11,306 votes in the election. She said she liked the online voting option but thinks everyone involved in the election should get the word out more. \nBut, Smith said, she plans to run for trustee again in the future.\n“At the moment, I’m planning on coming back,” she said.\nThe online voting option will be used in future elections, Taysom said, and after this election, alumni who voted online this year will only receive the online voting option in the future. She added that she wants to create a larger pool of online voters in the future, but the paper-ballot option will also be available.\nShoulders, who has been a trustee since 2002, will stay on as vice president of the board of trustees and chair of the external committee. He said he wanted to congratulate his opponents and alumni who voted for him.\n“I am just humbled and gratified that the majority of alumni saw fit to re-elect me,” he said.