ASUSU proposes campaigning restrictions
Student body elections have involved electronics in the past, allowing ASUSU candidates to approach students with various devices and urge them to vote.
Now ASUSU leaders have discussed restricting the use of such devices on voters.
“One thing students really didn’t like was having people come up to them, approach them, and say, ‘have you voted yet? Here’s my device to vote upon,'” Blackburn said.
The bill, ECB 2012-04, will set limits on how candidates use computers and smartphones in their campaigns, said Hannah Blackburn, ASUSU Public Relations director. She said candidates will not be allowed e students into voting by handing them a smartphone or a tablet anymore.
If the bill passes during next week’s ASUSU Executive Council meeting, it will be implemented in the 2012 ASUSU elections.
Blackburn said the bill will allow candidates to have two A-frame voting stations, with a laptop for student voting. Candidates will also be able to hand out items, such as fliers, for their campaigns, she said.
This bill should help prevent candidates from disrupting students’ daily routines on campus, Blackburn said, and students will have the option to vote instead of feeling pressured into it.
“By this, the student is giving consent that they want to vote at that time, by either pulling out their own smart device and voting or they’re walking over to that laptop,” Blackburn said.
Members of the ASUSU Executive Council said the current bill is too vague when it comes to laptop mobility. They passed an amendment to the bill saying laptops must remain permanently at the A-frame station. The council also voted to alter the amendment, substituting the word “stationary” for “permanently.”
ASUSU President Erik Mikkelsen said the bill will now read, “ASUSU candidates will be allowed one stationary laptop for students to vote on at their A-frame station.”
The bill passed as a first reading item. Next week the council will read the bill for a second time before voting on whether it should be added to the ASUSU election bylaws.
The council also voted on two bills introduced last week. The council passed ECB 2012-03, which banned door-to-door campaigning, called “Res Hall Calls,” and added a meet and greet called the “Res Hall Town Hall.”
The council decided to put off and further discuss ECB 2012-02 and vote on it at a later date.
Last week Blackburn said ECB 2012-02 will give a set time for ASUSU elections. She said the elections would always happen the third week of February — the same week as Presidents Day.
Blackburn said the third week of February is also Engineering Week. She said since elections are already scheduled, she would keep a close watch on the situation and make suggestions for next year, based on what happens.
According to Academic Senate President Tanner Wright, Engineering Week and elections week were at the same time last year. He said he already knows it will create problems because it did last year.
Mikkelsen said having elections week and Engineering Week at the same time creates conflicts for students who want to run for Engineering Senator. He said engineering students don’t participate in elections week because they are are busy participating in Engineering Week events.
“The dean of the College of Engineering refused to move engineering week because that is national engineering week and he feels it’s good to have their engineering week on national engineering week,” Mikkelsen said, having already looked into the option of moving engineering week.
According to Linda Zimmerman, executive director of Student Involvement and Leadership, this issue was already discussed during a scheduling meeting. She said moving election weeks would create other scheduling conflicts.
Mikkelsen said moving elections week would create conflicts with deadlines that new officers need to meet for interviews and training.
Athletics Vice President Ryan Baylis said moving elections week could interfere with numerous other activities the school has planned.
“We’re trying to make it fun every week,” Baylis said. “It’s hard when we try and shift something, it might move something else.”
Zach Larsen, ASUSU Programming vice-president, said they should leave elections week where it is.
“For all the events we’ve had, we’ve had a scheduling meeting, and we sat down and figured out what was going to work out best,” Larsen said. “Why are we doing the scheduling meeting if we’re just going to change it?”
The council voted to table the discussion while it tries to find a better date for the event.
– chris.w.lee@aggiemail.usu.edu