The debate for the revision of the Elections Code heated up in the Student Government’s summer planning meeting Tuesday night.
The committee continued with Article VI, Campaign Procedures, debating how long elections could run in the upcoming school year. Andrew David, chief of staff, suggested there be one week of active campaigning and one week of passive campaigning in the new six-week campaign stint. There has not yet been a vote for this motion.
There was, however, a passing vote to put passive campaigning back in the code, as it had been debated last week to take it out.
Next on the table was the subject of social media regulations. T Graham Howell, deputy chief justice, said social media sites like Facebook are not an system that can be regulated.
Robert Cavell, senator for the University Center for Advising and Counseling, proposed students wanting to run in a SG election shouldn’t be able to send messages soliciting votes from other students unless they are friends on Facebook. The vote was passed that all regulations regarding social media be struck.
The next vote to be passed prohibited the use of animals in active campaigning.
Howell proposed an amendment after these votes to ban anything in campaigning related to the prurient interest – the legal term for anything relating to a blunt or degrading interest in sexual material. The motion passed unanimously.
Article VI had two more votes that passed: the Judicial Branch, Elections Board, student body president and vice president cannot publicly endorse a candidate; and candidates cannot take financial contributions.
The summer planning committee then moved back to Article III, Election Timetable, to debate the exact order and length of the elections.
The proposed election schedule was Week One: Pre-qualifying, Week Two: Information sessions for regulations and procedures, Week Three: Passive campaigning, Week Four: Active campaigning – in which student organization visits would be allowed – Week Five: Elections and active campaigning and Week Six: Active campaigning and the runoff election. No solid vote was cast for this.
Pre-qualifying by candidates for elections was deemed optional, though candidates who do decide to prequalify must submit a form with their name, LSU ID number and the office they wish to run for according to the committee.
In Article VII, Spending Limits, it was decided to keep all expenditure limits for independent candidates the same as they’d previously been.
The meeting closed with a rather heated debate over the manner in which complaints should be filed, who sees them once they are filed and the impartiality of that person. No ultimatum was reached, despite the debate.
 
____ Contact Kristen Frank at [email protected]