If you voted for a new symbol through Campus Spirit Revival’s process Thursday, you may not have seen the same ballot someone did Friday.

Halfway through Campus Spirit Revival and the Illinois Student Senate’s vote for a new University symbol, a “no change” option was added. That meant some people may not have been able to voice their dislike for a new mascot. Beyond that, some people may not have known such an option was available and opted out of voting altogether.

By changing the rules of the voting in the middle of it, despite any attempts to justify the change, the vote is illegitimate. Even if no one had voted before the change, the vote is not valuable because it suggests the organization that initiated hadn’t considered the vote enough. That thought leads us to wonder if there are not other problems with the process of trying to select a new symbol for the University.

Students may have felt the need to vote so that something like the kraken didn’t win, but in all reality, they probably just don’t want a new mascot at all.

Imagine if halfway through the Nov. 6 presidential election, the government changed the ballot to include some option that wasn’t previously available. Naturally, choosing a new mascot is not as important as choosing the next leader of the country, but it does not deflate the fact this vote was incredibly unplanned.

This process was not as organized or thought out as well as it could have been, and the vote should not have been so rushed. The chance to submit an idea was announced less than a month ago, and voting was open for two days with 49 available options.

Out of the 49 possible mascots, 11 resemble the old Chief symbol, five involve Abraham Lincoln, three were some sort of kraken and 10 were hand-drawn.

On top of the different submissions, the whole legitimacy of this vote has been compromised. Every person who voted did not have the 49 options, and the students who didn’t want to see a change in the mascot weren’t even aware that was going to be an option.

So now, the student body is faced with a vote that is unlikely to result in a new mascot — and it’ll be a week yet before the public learns the results. The vote, regardless of the results still doesn’t sufficiently rid the University of any pro-Chief feelings.

The vote will supposedly show that the students have narrowed down the list of possible new symbols to five, some of which still have some resemblance to the Chief.

And even if the student body has unanimously voted for one specific symbol, it is not the student body’s decision, nor is it Campus Spirit Revival’s or the senate’s. It all comes down to the University. The administration has the final say.

With the rushed process, the botched vote, the lingering Chief sentiments, this vote cannot sincerely address a possibly new University symbol.

If Campus Spirit Revival and ISS want to be serious with this process, they must admit to the mistake, be sure they have considered all implications and related issues with the selection, and start the vote over, at least giving the the student body the chance it deserves.