In light of a recent Student Government bill that amended SG’s website policy to exclude senator voting records, SG President Taylor Cox said Monday the use of percentages rather than person-by-person vote counts will be much easier for students to read.
The bill passed Wednesday with 95 percent of the vote. As a public body, SG must follow Louisiana public record laws, which include disclosing voting records should anyone request them.
According to SG, the decision was made to make the website more user-friendly, and other changes in the bill included a shift from monthly to quarterly updates.
“I don’t ever want there to be an issue with transparency. I just didn’t think that posting the voting record would do anything for transparency,” said Speaker of the Senate Meredith Westbrook. “I think it would be a lot more sketchy if we just posted a spread sheet that students wouldn’t be able to understand.”
Cox agreed that the website changes should not be a transparency issue.
“We decided it was much easier to put up a percentage for students who wanted to know what the votes were,” Cox said.
Cox said although the person-by-person records will not be posted on the website, students can still request the information.
Cox also said he and other SG leaders went through all of the bylaws to determine what needed to be changed.
“By no means are we trying to tell people that they can’t have access to this information,” Westbrook said. “If someone wants the voting records, we are more than willing to send that to them.”
Westbrook said the legislation is not meant to make SG secretive. She also said the Senate rarely votes on controversial legislation.
Cox echoed Westbrook’s sentiment, saying the addition of senator votes would do little for transparency.
Cox said because legislation is rarely controversial, he doesn’t think posting which senators voted for which piece of legislation would do anything to increase transparency.
“I think by us now posting our up-to-date legislation — and the minutes of the executive, judicial and legislative meetings and court documents — does more for transparency,” Cox said.
Cox said SG can spend its time better elsewhere.
“I believe that our time is much better spent on community things, our programs and initiatives, rather than focusing on which senator voted for which piece of legislation,” Cox said.
“We decided it was much easier to put up a percentage for students who wanted to know what the votes were.”
