Students can vote today and Tuesday on the Leader of the Pack scholarship recipients as well as the fee referendum, which will be on the same ballot for the first time, according to Greg Doucette, student senate president.

The Fee Review Committee, chaired by Doucette and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Tom Stafford, decided to take out six meetings this year in exchange for videotaping fee increase requests, which are linked on the ballot.

“To some folks, watching it has been a big help,” he said.

When students log on to vote.ncsu.edu, Doucette, a senior in computer science, said they can first vote on Leader of the Pack, in which they will narrow down six candidates to one male and one female.

Twelve groups requested fee increases, and there is information on the fee’s purpose on the ballot, as well as a link to the group’s video presentation on their increase, Doucette said.

Student Body President Jay Dawkins and his staff have made questions to place on the ballot to illicit more “qualitative responses,” according to Doucette.

“Last year, we asked how they felt about each fee by full, half or nothing,” Dawkins said. “That’s like asking the tax payers, ‘Do you want to pay more taxes?’ So we couldn’t get much usable feedback with that. This year, we’re adding a series of rating questions that will gauge student support or each improvement or change that the requesting entity is asking for.”

According to Dawkins, the phrasing of a question on the ballot may have a big impact on student responses.

For example, if Carmichael Recreation Center simply asked for an increase, Dawkins said, students may not care.

“[But they could phrase] it, ‘Well, if we don’t provide this fee, they’ll have to cut hours. Are you in support of this fee?'” he said. “When you ask it like that, the answer is sometimes different.”

The Leader of the Pack vote’s placement on the ballot will hopefully increase the number of people voting on the fee referendum, Doucette has said.

And while Doucette said he was not sure how many typical students would watch all of the fee increase video presentations, he said it would help them be more informed.

At the bottom of the ballot, Doucette said there will be a place where students can prioritize their favorite fee increase options.

He said it frames the situation as “if you have limited money, what is your top priority?”