Amongst the many exciting annual Homecoming festivities, the election of Grand Blanc High School students into the Homecoming Court is one of the most well known. Every year, students are given the opportunity to vote for their fellow classmates whom they feel deserve the title of Homecoming King, Queen, Prince, or Princess.

This year, however, there was some trouble with the voting process during the first and second rounds.

In order to vote, students only needed to log in to their school fusion account with their I.D. number as their username and “bobcat1” as their password to view the ballot. Because everyone had the same password, the system lacked security and students were allegedly able to vote more than once by using a different I.D. number with the mutual password.

“When I tried to log in to vote, a message came up saying that I had already previously voted,” recalled junior Adrienne Korb. “It frustrated me because my voice counts, and I was not able to voice my opinion.”

Because of situations similar to Korb’s, the office was notified with complaints and concerns of students voting more than once under other students’ I.D. numbers.

Student adviser Ron Brewer and assistant principal Matt Shanafelt, who are in charge of the voting process, said that this is the second year they have used the software system for voting after using paper ballots became too time consuming as well as lacking in security. When the issue was brought to their attention, they immediately changed the password criteria to the students’ birthday in attempt to make the process more secure.

Fortunately, Brewer believes that although some students supposedly voted more than once, it was not enough to tilt the outcomes of the candidates.

“I think we caught it soon enough so no real damage was done,” explained Brewer, “and I think we have got it all fixed now.”

This incident will continue on to be a heads up in future elections as far as security goes.

Another issue is voter turn out. According to Shanafelt only 35 percent of the student body voted for Homecoming Court. The administration hopes that as more students get used to the online voting more will use it.

“I wish students more kids would take the opportunity to vote in general,” Brewer added. “It only takes a few seconds and it’s a good way to show school spirit during Homecoming Week.”