Recent campaign controversy, absentee voting and online elections were the main topics of discussion at Wednesday night’s Student Senate meeting.
Jeremy Griggs, former Senate speaker, spoke passionately during public input about the recent controversy surrounding a Trial Court hearing for Student Government presidential and vice presidential candidates Jay Buller and Robert Lay, who are members of the senate.
The hearing was a result of Buller and Lay’s appeal to the SG Election Board’s decision to disqualify them from candidacy for sending an e-mail to 23 heads of Greek organizations announcing their candidacy and soliciting support.
Griggs said Trial Court Justice Robert Richey should have recused himself before the hearing because he committed the same infraction by e-mailing Tiger Band members before active campaigning began, asking them for support for his candidacy.
Richey responded later in the meeting by saying the e-mail he sent was to members of a group to which he belonged, and the e-mail was meant to ask for people interested in joining his “Tiger Band ticket,” not asking for votes.
Several senators expressed concerns and asked questions about the issue, but the Senate meeting moved on to other topics.
The Commission on Online Voting, which the senate formed in its Feb. 5 meeting, gave its formal recommendation to the senators.
Guy Pyrzak, SG director of information and technology, said the commission agrees with online voting and feels it will greatly benefit students, especially those who will attend the University in the future when the world has moved even more into a digital dependency.
Sen. Michelle Gieg said she will write a bill to formally propose a move to an online election system and present it at next week’s Senate meeting.
During the commission presentation, Election Commissioner Zach Howser said 939 students took part in Tuesday’s absentee vote.
Howser said this is an encouraging number since only about 2,000 students voted in SG’s spring 2002 absentee and general elections combined.
Although this is a good number, Howser said he will not know whether there is a real leap in voter turnout until after the general election Wednesday, April 2.