A new look at USUSA elections
On Oct. 6, Utah State University Eastern voted to adopt Utah State University Student Association’s constitution which formally combined the two student bodies under one government and has now raised questions about how elections will take place this year.
In an Oct. 26 meeting, the current USUSA council met to discuss the 2022 election cycle bylaw adjustments.
According to USU Eastern president, Bryson Pugh, the election process itself is likely to be the biggest change that students notice. He explained the first two weeks will be solely for those running for executive leadership board positions, which is open to all USU students.
In the coming 2022 election season, students can also expect some changes to the campaigning process, including adjustments to campaign budgets and how campaigning violations will be assessed and reprimanded.
In the Oct. 26 meeting, the current budget limit of $500 was thoroughly discussed.
USUSA Organizations and Campus Diversity Vice President Emilee Harmon said $500 sounded too high.
“The budget is a tool to level the playing field, but $500 is likely to be out of reach for some students, making it no longer a fair playing field,” Harmon said. “We also have a voting base of only two — maybe three — thousand students and this just feels excessive, especially compared to other, larger universities.”
As a rebuttal to Harmon’s idea, Executive Vice President Porter Casdorph explained the reasoning behind a higher budget.
“People can now be campaigning on multiple campuses,” he said, “and most people don’t end up maxing out their budgets anyway.”
This was followed by USUSA President Lucas Stevens adding, “If we keep limiting it, that would make it harder. I would think that statewide students would actually want to be able to do as much as they could and have that higher budget.”
Also discussed in the meeting was what system would be used to assess campaign violations.
Currently, a point system is used where, depending on the severity of the violation of the election bylaws or USU Student Code, candidates are assessed between one and seven points.
Fewer than two points requires actions such as a written apology, or fine against 50% of campaign budgets. Three to six points receive fines up to the entirety of a candidate’s campaign budget. Anything greater than seven points receives disqualification of the candidate or a reelection as decided by the election committee.
Casdorph spoke to the power of the point system in contrast to previous systems for bylaws, saying, “Legal had issues with us restricting students’ free speech by punishing a candidate with restrictions on when they can campaign. The point system is effective in addressing this concern while also letting students know they can’t just ignore the rules.”
The director of leadership, Kevin Webb, also had something to say regarding what he thinks will have the most effective outcome.
“The way we set this up is so students could be disqualified if they have two major violations and are blatantly disregarding the rules twice,” Webb said. “This is brand new and comes as a response to the advice from legal. Lucas did lots of research on how other institutions handle this same issue.”
Stevens later said a cap to total accumulated points should be added to the bylaws. This way if a candidate goes over the cap, they can be disqualified.
“The idea behind this is that the hearing board has no teeth without using the option of restricting campaigning, so this ensures that there are still consequences,” Stevens said.
Just over 10 years ago, USU acquired what was known as the College of Eastern Utah — today it is USU Eastern. But Eastern’s student body continued to operate under its own governmental body until this recent change.
When asked why this is an important move for the USU school system, Pugh said that it created unity.
“All students have a voice and that is crucial to the success of our university,” he said. “This constitution adoption will provide students throughout the statewide system with more support and opportunities.”
In an interview with USU Today, Stevens added that, “Building a more harmonious and effective government for students at all of our campuses has been and must continue to be one of our top priorities. Our statewide student body is unique, and its diversity strengthens our organization.”
Since USU Eastern has yet to be incorporated into the USUSA council, their opinions won’t be taken into account until after the 2022 election season.
Executive elections will be held from Feb. 14-18, and general elections will be held from Feb. 18-March 4.
-Michael.Popa@usu.edu