In light of the continuing technical glitches that plague Student Union election cycles,Union officials say they will most likely start outsourcing the election system to a third-party company for next semester's cycle.At least four past elections have included temporarily disenfranchising eligible voters, allowing alumni to vote and other malfunctions.

"It's buggy," Student Union Vice President Aaron Gaynor '07 said of the current voting system, which Library and Technology Services officials called insufficient last March .

Gaynor's own election to the vice presidency last spring came under scrutiny because his original margin of victory over Brian Paternostro '07, director of communications, by four votes was reduced to two after the Union learned that two alumni had voted in the race.

The University will most likely hire BigPulse, an international online elections company, in time for the spring election cycle, during which virtually every Union seat, except for those of residential quad senators, is contested, Gaynor said.

Brandeis would be BigPulse's first contract with an American university. "They are extremely eager to have our business," Gaynor said.

Secretary Alex Braver '09 said elections would be "easier, quicker and not that expensive" with BigPulse.

BigPulse would send the system to the Union, which would then input all of the names of eligible voters, Paternostro explained.

"I would feel very comfortable with the Student Union subscribing to BigPulse's election service, as they are a stable international company with a high-quality product," said Anne Livermore, the LTS assistant director for student technical services.

BigPulse's annual fee is "relatively cheap," Braver said, adding that he couldn't give an exact price because the Union will negotiate the price with the company.

Before committing to BigPulse, Gaynor said he wants to rule out any free options first, including using open-source software, which though free, would require more work within LTS.

Paternostro said if LTS were to work on the system, they would have to devote less time to other technical projects on campus.

"Open-source software usually has less documentation, meaning it takes longer to learn how it works and how to integrate it with our existing systems," Braver said.

The new election system could also be used for other elections around campus like club leadership, Gaynor and Braver said.

During this past fall's election cycle, students couldn't vote for about 90 minutes in a run-off election for Union treasurer, in which Choon Woo Ha '08 won the first round by one vote and ultimately slid past Paternostro by 14 votes.

Additionally, in the same election round, first-years could only vote for one candidate in the race for Senator for the Class of 2010, when they should have been able to vote for two candidates.

Secretary Alex Braver '09, who oversaw that election cycle, blamed the errors-which disenfranchised Transitional Year Program students for 45 minutes during the primary round of the treasurer race-on the Union's decision to classify all students by their class years instead of just as "undergraduates.