Students responsible for clean elections

With the start of a new IU Student Association election season, I am optimistic about the student response thus far. Tickets have eagerly commenced their campaigns, and it appears that active campaigning will continue until the voting takes place from 10 a.m. March 31 until 10 p.m. April 1.

Recently IUSA Congress passed a new Elections Code, bringing last year’s election controversy to my mind. Many of you might recall that last year the winning ticket was found to have committed six violations of the Elections Code by deleting e-mails on an opponent’s account, defacing campaign materials and violating several residence hall restrictions.

As one of the IUSA Supreme Court justices who heard the election appeal and ultimately disqualified one of the tickets for Elections Code violations, I am hopeful people learned from the hearings last year that such disregard for election policies will not be accepted. I am optimistic that this election year will prove to be less eventful.

As candidates for this year’s election continue campaigning, I urge them to closely read through the new Elections Code so we can avoid the controversy that ensued after the election last year. In today’s world where politicians often engage in ethically questionable and sometimes blatantly illegal actions, it often seems that a controversy-free election is the exception, not the norm.

However, as students we have the responsibility to ensure that this sort of unethical behavior does not occur in our student elections. Every student can play a part in ensuring that this election runs smoothly and fairly.

Encourage the tickets to abide by the rules established by the Elections Code, attend the debate March 25 in the IMU State Room East and then vote in the election for the ticket with a platform in which you believe.

If students push for tickets to run clean campaigns and the tickets abide by the Elections Code, then hopefully the debacle that occurred last year will be avoided. Last year, the Court functioned in its role of appellate review because the tickets didn’t abide by the Elections Code, but the Court’s involvement with an election is not a preferred occurrence.

Nevertheless, it is the role of the Court to ensure that elections and hearings are fair and representative, and that can, at times, result in involvement by the Court in election disputes.

Students often seem surprised to learn that we have a Student Body Supreme Court; however, settling election disputes is only one small role the Court plays in serving the University.

The other primary functions of the Court include hearing cases involving constitutional challenges and serving as student representatives in the campus judicial system and on campus committees.

If you are interested in serving as an associate justice, the Court is currently accepting applications for the 2009-2010 school year.

Applications are available online at www.indiana.edu/~court and are due at 5 p.m. March 6.