Student Government concluded its debate over the Elections Code during its second-to-last summer planning meeting Tuesday night.
The first item covered was Article VII, Spending Limits. Danielle Rushing, chief justice, proposed a raise in spending of $500 to presidential/vice presidential pairs to both independent candidates and candidates on a ticket.
The winning vote was for spending limits of $2,500 for president/vice presidential candidates on a ticket and $3,000 for independent pair candidates; $500 for associate justice candidates on a ticket and $1,000 for independent associate justice candidates and $50 for senate candidates on a ticket and $175 for independent senate candidates.
Article VIII – Appeals, Complaints, Petitions, and Referenda ­- was debated next.
Rushing said she would prefer complaints be sent to the clerk of court and then the chief justice, as she is impartial. She also said the commissioner of elections is appointed by the student body president, so his decisions are less impartial and more governed than the chief justice’s would be.
The decision was made that complaints filed would be sent to the clerk of court first, then the chief justice if needed. The chief would then disseminate where the complaint would go from there.
It was also decided by vote that the person filing the complaint would have the burden of proving preponderance – or having more than 50 percent of evidence that the violation occurred.
The next vote passed was to change the language in the code from “plaintiff” and “defendant” to more SG-friendly terms, like “complainant” and “respondent”.
Article IX, Penalties for Violation, was the last article discussed. The main vote for this article was the Elections Board is required to submit an official decision about an appeal to the Chief Justice no more than 24 hours after the elections board meeting.
The final item on the planning committee’s agenda was the complaint form. The committee voted that the form would include the name of the complainant, his/her email, phone, and the last four digits of his/her LSU ID number. The form would also include spaces for the location and nature of the violation, the time, and a space for the alleged governing document citation, where complainants can cite the documents that state the violator is in violation.
Contact Kristen Frank at [email protected].