Leaders review election rules

Members of Student Congress spent more than four hours revising campus campaigning laws during a special session Wednesday night, ushering in key changes to election procedures.

The session, which was called for with the hope of making next month's general campuswide election run more smoothly, reviewed dozens of proposed revisions to Title VI of the Student Code, the election section.

Congress members were focused on making changes that could be implemented immediately.

One of the changes that provoked significant discussion at both the special session and a prior committee meeting will allow UNC Board of Elections members to declare invalid any election in which the "integrity" is "compromised" by technical difficulties.

The specific wording of the change, introduced by Rep. Julius West, worried some representatives who were concerned it gave the elections board too much power.

But Speaker Pro Tem Kris Gould said that under the legislation, the Student Supreme Court would be able to keep the board's power in check.

"It gives the Supreme Court more authority to say, 'the BOE made the wrong decision,'" he said.

During the session Speaker Luke Farley and Rep. Tyler Younts lost a hard-fought battle to increase Congressional campaign spending limits from $20 to $50, despite offering a compromise that provided for a $30 cap.

"We need to do some things to generate interest in Congress," Farley said. "One way to do that is to provide candidates with more resources to campaign."

West, who opposed the bill, instead advised Congress members to "get up off their butts" to encourage political participation rather than spending money on campaign materials.

"I don't think raising the limit is going to solve the problem, if there is a problem," he said.

Farley withdrew another controversial bill which would have allowed student organizations to receive campaign money allocated by Congress to endorse candidates.

Members also approved legislation that condones the use of provisional paper ballots in student elections, which could offer an alternative to voters in instances of online irregularities.

Others felt that mandating specific voting and testing procedures-- changes that were voted into law in the session - represent unnecessary dominance of the BOE by Congress.

A massive bill introduced by Rep. James Riley and aimed at rectifying clerical errors in the Code was broken up and largely tabled by Congress.

Before diving into a discussion on the items, Congress members were briefed by BOE members for about an hour on technical and procedural aspects of campus elections.

The elections board attributed recent election irregularities to Information Technology Services, which manages online voting via Student Central.

"They're trying to turn over full control of the elections to us by next year," said Jim Brewer, vice chairman of the elections board.

Leaders said they were pleased by the session.

"All the major and substantive problems (were) clarified and corrected," Rep. Pablo Friedmann said.

 

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.