The primary elections for positions in the city council was held on May 7th. The election was for Place 1, Place 3, and Place 5. Places 1 and 5 had two people going head to head while Place 3 was unopposed with only Shannan Shepard in the running. However, one of the biggest things that was voted on was Proposition 1. When the votes were counted, Austin was in favor of the fingerprint checks for the drivers. Due to the proposition failing, Uber and Lyft will be leaving Austin on Monday.

“If I had to choose one, I would vote No, though there are very strong arguments for both sides,” senior Alexis Satterfield said. “I believe that fingerprint checks should be made mandatory for the drivers in order to prevent those with fake identities who may wish to hurt others a greater chance of being caught.”

She also gave her opinion on the idea of the two companies leaving the city.

“However, if there are required fingerprint checks, I don’t believe these companies will truly leave Austin,” Satterfield said. “They aren’t going to leave the large profit Austin can bring them, but because of the fingerprint checks, they will justify an increase in the price of a ride and give themselves a larger proportion of the profit, which will just hurt the citizens of Austin.”

Much like Satterfield, sophomore Anabella Speight is in the same boat.

“I’m all for it, when you give a company access to very private information like your address and such, we as customers should feel the utmost respect and safety when using their services,” Speight said. “It is the company’s job to do a thorough background checks way before a driver can be allowed to pick up pedestrians to insure this protection of their clients because it’s just plain eficial.”

As for the services possibly leaving and the impact it would have on Austin, Speight gave her thoughts.

“It would be a minor loss but I think safety and complete security is more important than a simple convenience that we have gone without for a very long time,” Speight said.