The Student Senate tabled a bill Wednesday which would have allowed students to vote online in the next Student Government election, but also voted to form a committee to rewrite the election code to allow online voting.
The Senate tabled the first bill only after about an hour of deliberation, where several senators discussed a number of benefits and concerns about the proposed system.
The bill, which Sen. Michelle Gieg, Sen. Katherine Nolen and Sen. Melody Wells authored, proposes that SG amend its election code to replace the current voting system with an online voting system.
Under the new system, students would be able to vote from any computer, Wells said.
The three authors and Guy Pyrzack, SG director of information and technology, encouraged senators to vote in favor of the bill because the new system would greatly increase voter turnout.
“[SG] can’t claim legitimacy with so few people voting,” Wells said. “Credibility is important in both the actions we take for students and our dealings with the administration.”
Sen. Robert Lay said the Senate should be careful about voting for this bill before rewriting the election code. Lay also was concerned about the expected increase in voter turnout.
“We might increase the quantity, but we are also decreasing the quality of the voters,” Lay said.
Sen. Jaci Cole asked the Senate if they were really ready to present the new system to the student body with “this many holes.” Although she thinks online voting is a good idea, Cole recommended the Senate spend more time investigating and debating the bill.
Despite some senators’ concerns about the proposed system, Sen. Jessica Wainwright was among the senators who voiced confidence in the bill.
“It’s time to move forward in the election system, and I think the best time to do it is now,” Wainwright said. “I think the fall election is the best time to start it. If there are any problems, it will be easier to address them quickly and more easily.”
Despite the authors’ push to continue with the debate, 15 senators voted to table the bill, 11 voted to bring it to a vote and one senator abstained.
Several senators speculated the bill would not be brought to the floor again until this fall. However, the Senate approved a bill which many consider to be a step in the right direction for implementing the new system.
Gieg, Nolen and Wells proposed a separate bill to form an election code revision committee to “research and write a new election code that will result in online voting.”
The Senate passed the bill without much deliberation.
Although online voting was the main issue at the five-hour meeting, the Senate accomplished a long list of tasks. The Senate also swore in its newly-elected members, elected Michael Busada as speaker and Jessica Wainwright as speaker pro-tempore, proposed 32 new executive officers, proposed the 2003-2004 SG budget and enrolled the executive branch charter.