The Student Senate voted Wednesday to pass a bill changing SG election codes.
The bill, which has been deliberated since it first was introduced Oct. 8, has been the primary focus of the Senate for most of the semester.
“We started this bill the third week of school,” said Student Senate Speaker Michael Busada. “It took a while, but it needed to be done so we could produce the best code for everyone involved.”
Busada said the biggest change to the election code was the implementation of online voting.
According to the code, physical polling locations where students traditionally have voted have been eliminated in favor of new, online voting.
The bill states that any student may vote from any computer with access to the Internet using PAWS.
“All students have to do is log on to a computer,” Busada said. “It’s easier for students to become involved and vote.”
Sen. Alison Widener said she thought the new election code made the election process more detail-oriented.
“You’re never going to please everyone with a bill like this,” Widener said. “But our basic goal as a whole is to increase student voting, and online voting is the best way to do that.”
Sen. Jay Buller said he thought the definition of tickets is one of the most important advances in the legislation.
The bill defines tickets as an affiliation by common name or slogan of candidates who group together to organize campaigning for an election.
The bill contains a ticket provision largely because of this past spring’s ticket conflict involving presidential candidate Buller and his ticket, IMPACT LSU.
The ticket was disqualified after allegations that Buller began collecting members of his ticket before active campaigning began. That ruling was appealed to the University Court and overturned.
Buller said the ticket provision will help the election board regulate elections.
“Filing your ticket helps the election commission keep track of you,” Buller said. “People campaign as groups, and if they are registered groups they can be punished as groups.”
Despite much debate over the issue, ticket names still will not be printed on election ballots.
“If we had put ticket names on the ballots you would have seen people just campaigning for their tickets,” Buller said. “It would have become more about your ticket name than the people running.”
Buller, an outgoing senator, said the passage of the bill was a good legacy for him and his outgoing colleagues.
“We’ve been talking about doing this for years,” Buller said. “It will be interesting to watch it in the spring. We know the application works, but it will change the entire way we campaign.”
Despite the bill’s passage on a vote of 24 to four, the senate chamber was uneasy with rumors that SG President Allen Richey might veto the measure because of a conflict over voting times.
The new election code calls for students to be able to vote on PAWS from 8 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.
Many senators argued about whether they should change the bill to ensure its signing.
“There is a very good chance the president would veto this bill if we don’t change the voting times,” Sen. Heath Hattaway said to the chamber.
Sen. Brandon Smith also advocated changing the bill and said, if passed, he would encourage Richey to veto it.
“We probably don’t have the two-thirds to override a veto,” Smith said. “It would be wise to take the executive branch into consideration when passing this bill.”
Busada said he hadn’t talked to Richey as to whether or not the bill might be vetoed.
“We have our obligation to do what we think the students want us to do,” Busada said.
Buller said he thought the numbers that voted for the bill would give the senate enough votes to override Richey’s veto.
“A lot of people wanted voting to continue on until midnight so someone sitting at home surfing the web could vote,” Buller said. “If you have voting only during business hours, people have class and work, they have stuff to do.”
As for the Senate, Busada said he is looking forward to moving on from the election code, which has occupied the Senate for the majority of the semester.
Busada said he expects many students are frustrated with the amount of time the Senate has spent on this one issue this semester.
“We want to start debating things that directly affect the students,” Busada said. “We want big things for students, and we haven’t yet given students a reason to go out and vote for us.”