This year’s version of the Election Policy Handbook was approved by a vote of 12-2-0 during the Undergraduate Senate meeting on Sunday.
The new handbook included amendments that changed the spending limits of campaigns, the status of write-in candidates and the severity of penalties for regulation violations.
Anthony Dunham, the chairman of the Board of Elections, presented the new Handbook at the Senate meeting and said he hoped the revised handbook would prevent the confusion and controversy of the spring 2010 elections from happening again.
“I hope to build on whatever successes there have been in the Board of Elections and the multitude of mistakes that have happened,” Dunham said in the meeting. “I will not shirk away from the fact there have been many mistakes in the past.”
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Amendments • AMENDMENT 1: The Board of Elections no longer needs to submit a budget request to the Undergraduate Senate every year. Instead, the BOE Chair can choose whether they want to submit a request or not. • AMENDMENT 2: Write-in candidates are no longer required to have at least 15 percent of the vote for to be announced during election results. • AMENDMENT 3: This amendment protects candidates from the actions of those they cannot control — for example, if someone sent out a message about a campaign en masse online. Restrictions now apply to messages from the campaign to the public. • AMENDMENT 4: Language against the use of “undeclared campaign staff” will no longer be enforced and was removed until a clearer definition of “undeclared campaign staff” can be determined. • AMENDMENT 5: The appeal process in election regulation will have a shorter turnover time. The amount of time to return a decision on an appeal has decreased from 48 hours to 24. • AMENDMENT 6: Breaches of endorsement are categorized as a lesser violation to protect candidates from the actions of people outside of their control. |
“The biggest lesson we got from the spring was that it was important to lay out in writing the options the board had for punishment other than removing candidates from the ballot,” Wayman said in an e-mail. “The goal was to do more paperwork now so we have to do less during the election.”
Last spring election, SG presidential candidate Nirvana Habash was kicked off the ballot twice by the Board of Elections when her friends e-mailed members of the School of Public Affairs’ Leadership Program listserv and encouraged them to vote for Habash, The Eagle previously reported. Habash declined to comment on the changes to the election handbook.
An amendment takes into consideration the potentially damaging actions of people beyond candidates’ control. Breaches of endorsement procedures, such as sending a promotional e-mail on a private listserv, have been moved down from a Class III violation to Class II.
Class II violations are correctable offenses while Class III violations are classified as “major offenses,” according to the handbook.
Dunham views this amendment as a means to keep elections fair.
“I’ve seen elections kind of go from bad to worse, topping out last year,“ Dunham said. “There are lesser sanctions you can use to keep elections free and fair but not just disqualifying everyone, which was the problem last year.”
Another amendment guarantees write-in candidates who receive at least 15 percent of the vote to be announced along with election results. The previous language stated if a write-in candidate receives 15 percent of the vote and did not win, they would not be announced.
One amendment that stirred debate at the Senate meeting gave candidates running for SG positions higher spending limits. The new limits were $60, up from $50, for senators and class council members, and $300, up from $250, for executive positions.
The increase in spending limits reflects an 18.87 percent rise of inflation since the handbook limits were last set, according to Dunham.
These limits have not been adjusted for some time, with the most recent record available from 2003, according to Wayman.
Dunham said the prices of supplies needed for campaigning continue to rise.
“I don’t believe we need to make it into a race for money,” he said. “I do believe it is crucial that the Board of Elections try to free up as much possibility for creativity as possible.”
Taylor Yeates, newly appointed senator for the Class of 2013, was concerned that raising the spending limit would create a barrier to entry for some potential candidates.
“I don’t like the increase in spending in executive races ... We want to keep this so people can run.” Yeates said. “I don’t want to see people fundraising to run for Student Government. I want to see people running based on the merits of who they are.”
Chief of Staff Phil Cardarella worked as campaign manager for SG President Nate Bronstein’s campaign last year and said it could be difficult to stay on budget for campaigns.
“If you don’t get lucky sometimes, you’re going to run out of money,” Cardarella said about executive spending limits. “I like the idea of being able to be more creative. I think that’s what’s going to bring voters.”
The BOE meets to change the handbook every summer, and the Senate can amend the handbook once it has been presented, Wayman said. The Senate can amend the handbook until two months prior to elections.
“We don’t want to control with a type of ‘iron-curtain’ type of election,” Dunham
said in the meeting. “We want to have an election in which people are free to
be creative, free to be the emerging politicians they want to be.”
amooney@theeagleonline.com
