The past two Student Government Association elections have seen two maximum fines, elections code loopholes, a presidential resignation and potential disqualifications.
SGA took steps to change elections code by entering amendments that were voted into place Wednesday.
Typically, the elections code is amended in the Fall Semester or before the election season in February, but Anagnos said she wanted to make changes before she leaves office.
She said the organization is trying to move away from the political fighting that has characterized the two previous elections.
“SGA needs to look at elections closely and see what they want elections to be,” she said. “Do they want it to be super clean? Or do we want [to recognize candidates] running to represent students and win a stipend that’s worth a lot of money and there are negative feelings that they have to deal with?”
Most of the problems, Anagnos said, are because students aren’t following the code.
She felt the code was written to allow loopholes, which she did not think was right.
“Anytime you’re running, you want to get away with as much as possible,” Anagnos said. “But it needed to be changed because it was causing a lot of issues. We can’t hold as many hands anymore. We need people to be accountable for their actions.”
Student Rights and Community Standards
The elections code seeks to involve the Office of Student Rights and Community Standards as a check and balance.
This year, a student review board created by Mike Gillilan, director of Student Rights and Community Standards, reviewed Cardinal Connection’s appeal of its $400 fine.
“It helped in preserving the credibility and integrity of the election process,” Gillilan said. “The students who were involved didn’t have a skin in the game, so there wasn’t a need to appeal the decision.”
The new code proposes that any appeals to code violations go straight to Student Rights and Community Standards. Additionally, the director would nominate the elections board sheriff, who conducts investigations.
Gillilan said he has not been approached about the potential changes that involve his office.
The board he used to review Cardinal Connection’s violation was an ad hoc committee specialized for the situation and not a standing board.
Gillilan said he could do something similar on an occasional basis in the future.
“But if it was happening on a regular basis, that would cause some glitches. A one-time thing [would be] OK,” he said.
He is open to the idea of nominating the sheriff with help from the SGA adviser.
Majority vote, runoff elections and neutrality
What it takes to win the election was amended. Instead of a successful vote, the code now asks for a 50 percent majority vote as determined by “Robert’s Rules of Order.” SGA Vice President Alyssa France said at least one vote more than 50 percent is needed to win.
If a majority vote is not reached, there will be a run-off election, as decided by the elections board. The original changes gave final discretion to the SGA president and adviser, but it was struck down.
The first draft of elections code barred members of the current executive board from running, helping or campaigning for a slate, because they are paid employees of the university.
According to SGA Bylaws, executive board members are permitted to run again and succeed themselves. Senate amended the change to require neutrality unless the executive board member is a candidate.
“You can run for office, but if you are not a candidate, you shouldn’t be helping,” France said. “Every year I’ve been here, the president pro tempore has run on a slate.”
France said she thinks the changes will clarify the code for future elections boards.
She said there will always be candidates who try to “lean over the fine line” with the code, but these changes may streamline the election.
“This changed a lot of the process: the core of an election,” she said. “I think it’s getting to a point where it is clearly defined and hopefully, there won’t need to be constant changes.”
