NIDs inefficient for elections

While reviewing the article on Network Identification Numbers being required with signatures a certain old saying came up, "If it isn't broke, then don't fix it."

Well, what if something is clearly broken? It would make sense to fix it. The rule requiring students to write their NID number when endorsing a possible student government candidate is not working and needs to be changed.

UCF is making the lives of students tedious with their requirement of a set of numbers that many students just don't memorize or keep readily available.

The number is used almost nowhere on campus and is not printed on your UCF ID. So the student hoping to reach their quota for the SGA elections is spending hours gathering extra signatures only to find students have given him or her fake numbers.

In the recent presidential election one candidate was still collecting signatures on the last day because of this issue.

What is so troublesome about this drab issue is that there is an easy solution — make students write their PIDs instead of their NIDs.

With UCF's push to provide almost everything online, students are more likely to have their PID numbers memorized since it is required to login to my.UCF.edu. Most students already write their PIDs on the forms for the SGA hopefuls, too.

However, the rule states that the student provide a valid NID for each signature,  SGA would not count the PIDs, even if they were correct.

It is understandable why the NID was used in the past, the NID was once what the PID is now; it used to be the main identification number for students on campus. Since this is no longer the case, the problem needs to stop being talked about and instead be solved.

The SGA Senate has a few proposed plans to eliminate the issue. All three options eliminating the NID requirement would work.

The safest option, requiring students to write the last four digits of their PID and their birthday, seems to be the easiest to implement. Students know their PID, their birth date and would not have to try to fumble through their backpack or purse searching for their UCF ID.

The important thing now is that the SGA Senate fix what is clearly broken. In doing so they will make it easier for candidates to run for office and hopefully increase competition.