USG changes election process

The USG senate passed a major overhaul of student government election laws at last night's meeting.

Questions and concerns by candidates in recent elections and the experiences of the officers themselves prompted the USG to create an election reform committee, headed by USG treasurer Mike Kimberly '03, said USG vice president Sonya Mirbagheri '04.

The most controversial change is that the USG will no longer prohibit mass mailing in campaigns. Previously, candidates were not permitted to send out mass e-mails to advertise their platforms.

A second vote at next week's meeting is required to finalize the decision.

A new election cycle for U-Council members and class officers begins next Sunday. The changes in election law will affect this election and future ones.

Class of 2004 president Eli Goldsmith '04, visiting the senate meeting, said candidates sent out hundreds of individual campaign e-mails anyway.

"In reality, many of the candidates use the copy-and-paste send method to hundreds and hundreds of people, so this is being done anyway," he said. "Why don't we just save the time? Why don't we let people do mass e-mail?"

U-Council executive committee member Josh Anderson '04 strongly opposed unregulated e-mailing. Many candidates who use the copy-and-paste method also add a personal line to their e-mails, he said.

"If you don't regulate campaigns, people are going to be inundated with e-mails," Anderson said. "You're [also] going to undermine any person" who chooses not to send out mass e-mails, he said.

This part of the new regulations ultimately passed by one vote, 8 to 7.

The new rules also will condense voting in USG elections to take place fully on a Friday instead of over a three-day period.

In addition, the senate voted to deregulate verbal campaigning, which is campaigning or mention of future campaigning done by candidates before being authorized by the USG.

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All paper advertising will be limited to standard-size paper and to 400 total pieces of paper, according to the new regulations. The USG is allotting each candidate $20 and charging five cents per sheet for photocopying or printing. The USG will also allot $10 per candidate for non-printing campaign tasks.

USG president Nina Langsam '03 expressed some apprehension about this limitation.

"People tear down your signs, and you have to put them back up," Langsam said. "It's really rigid to say [only] $20 of the $30 can be spent on printing."

The new regulations put in a new 50-point penalty system for candidates who violate election laws.

These regulations dissolve the traditional 10-member election committee and replace it with a senior election manager, who is a top USG officer but not the president, and two deputy managers. The election officers will arbitrate cases when the election regulations are called into question.

In other developments last night, the senate discussed the USG's role in promoting campus social events and possible reforms of the academic schedule. Also, three student groups secured funding.

A fund to celebrate Asianand Pacific-American Heritage Month will receive $2,520; a salsa party run by Accion Puertorriquena will receive $2,227; and the Nassau Literary Review, a campus publication that last printed in Spring 2001, will receive $1,500.