Changes made to AS elections

By D. Lynn Bond
The Collegian

The Student Senate made changes to the election code that will restrict write-in candidacy.

If approved by President Welty, write-in candidates will be required to register with AS before the election starts and follow all of the rules that regular candidates must follow during their campaigns.

The changes were recommended by the election commission which reviewed the entire election code and made several recommendations to the AS Legal Committee and Student Senate.

Katie Yeffa, Senator for the School of Education, was one of the few senators in opposition to the changes to the election code. She was elected as a write-in candidate in spring 2005.

“By making these students register before the election, it takes out the very nature of a ‘write-in’ candidacy,” Yeffa said.

Making write-in candidates more responsible for their campaigns was recommended due to more people using this option and a concern that write-ins were not made to follow as strict of rules as candidates already on the ballot, according to Stephen Trembley, AS Senator.

“We are not trying to stop people from being write-in candidates, we are trying to make it as fair as possible for all candidates,” Trembley said.

Under the old election code write-in candidates were not required to register before the election and could start a campaign while the election was happening. However, since they had not officially entered the election they could not be held to the same campaign guidelines as those who were already on the ballot.

Under the old election code, write-in candidates would have been able to win with few votes especially in seats without much competition.

Katie Yeffa expressed a concern that students should not be left with not voting as their only option when they see no good options on the ballot.

If approved, changes will take effect in the next AS elections this semester.

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