A resolution is proposed that would result in many students running as independents.
Considering Election Day only just passed, future elections aren’t on some people's minds.
But for Student Senate members, setting up the rules for their annual spring elections is a top priority.
At Wednesday’s senate meeting body members will vote on five resolutions, all related to election reform.
Abigail Fairbanks, senate's chief of staff and a member of the elections committee, said the biggest proposed change is the restructuring of the campaign setup.
Tickets would only be composed of the three executive officers, five at-large senators, five Senate Appropriations Commission senators and four uFund at-large senators. All other senator positions, such as the senators for each college, would have to run as independents, according to the resolution.
“With this, it would be way more transparent,” Fairbanks said. “You can just run if you want to.”
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She also said the election committee was very spilt on some election changes, but she said the committee “worked hard trying to make the best of both worlds.”
Jacob Haskins, residence life commissioner and a member of the elections committee, said he's not sure if he's comfortable with all the changes proposed.
“But changes need to happen, and I feel that the committee has been very productive,” he said.
He added that the proposed increase in the amount of money students can spend on campaigns puts students on a more equal playing field. Independent candidates won’t have to compete against candidates running on a ticket who have more money than they do, he said.
“Last year an independent candidate could only spend $10,” Haskins said. “This year we're increasing it to $900, I believe.”
Haskins said one of the proposed resolutions calls for more debates compared to years past. Last year only the executive candidates participated in debates, but if the resolution passes every positions will have a debate, he said, which could mean nearly 20 total debates.
The debates would give the independent candidates the chance to specify their goals to students, he said, without having to align themselves with a specific ticket.
Landen Lama, lead parliamentarian and the election committee chair, said in an email the push for election reform is because one of the goals of the committee is to have election season start earlier than last year.
“My goal as the Chairman when the committee started was to lead a fact finding mission, look at how other universities handle student government elections,” Lama said in an email. “Everything our committee has come up with is based off of best practices and the members personal view on how elections should be run.”
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