After a slew of controversy and campaigning violations, Student Government Association Elections Chair Marco Pretell-Vazquez said he expects a few changes to the Elections Code before next year's race.
He said he would likely suggest changes to newly elected Cardinal Impact and expects them to agree with the proposed changes. He will push to include clauses about Gradebook and Blackboard use during the campaign season and clarify the language about nomination conventions. Pretell-Vazquez said he heard some people express concern about how the Elections Board handled the two conventions.
SGA President-elect Beth Cahill said she has discussed changes with her slate already and considers them a high priority. She wanted to address the same issues with the code as well as assign specific fines for violations. All three slates violated the Elections Code during their campaigns, and that could have been avoided if the code were clearer, she said. All the mistakes were honest, and it is something that happens during campaigns, Cahill said.
Pretell-Vazquez and Cahill said they wanted to change the code because the problems could easily happen again. All of the problems could have been avoided if slate members checked with him before violating the code, Pretell-Vazquez said.
Cahill said the same issues have come up in previous elections and have caused problems in this year's campaign. She said she did not want the same thing to happen to next year's slates.
SGA faculty adviser Lynda Wiley said the board handled the election well. She said it reacted to the situations at the nomination conventions and determined how to fine all three slates for their campaigning violations correctly.
Wiley said she would like to see the same areas addressed and clarified, but did not know if it would happen because she had not heard any students express concern about it. She said students would usually bring their concerns to SGA members.
Wiley and Pretell-Vazquez said if the Elections Code were to change, a movement would have to be made in the Student Senate. Changes to the code would happen like any other legislation.
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