IUSA Congress proposes election code changes

It’s that time of year again. As potential candidates gear up for coming elections, IU Student Association’s Congress discusses proposed changes to the standing election code.

At Tuesday’s bi-weekly meeting, Congress was presented with a revised copy of the current election code. Congress member Andrew Hahn, who is responsible for the initial revision of the code, said changes were necessary because of the impermanent nature of the current code. A dispute during the 2008 election left IUSA with an invalidated version, and a new one was generated.

Among the proposed changes are both small adjustments made to wording and larger ones such as campaign expenditures, polling locations and times, advertising, rules violations and disqualification.

“Last year’s code was sort of a patchwork sort of code ... but wasn’t necessarily a permanent solution,” Hahn said.

Vice President for Congress Shobha Pai echoed this statement, saying Congress and executives “really want to legitimize it and make sure there aren’t any holes.”

The first significant change addressed polling times. During past elections, polls were open from 10 a.m. on the first day of elections to 10 p.m. on the second day. This 36-hour window allowed tickets to campaign in bars during the evening polling hours, an activity IUSA Student Body Vice President Jack McCarthy said reflected negatively on IUSA.

The new code would allow polls to be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on two successive election days, creating two 12-hour polling windows.

Another major change addressed polling locations. During the 2009 election, polling locations were reserved and staffed by IUSA elections commissioners, Hahn said.

He described this method as both ineffective and costly.

The new code proposes that neutral, highly trafficked locations will be reserved ahead of time and staffed by no more than two members of each ticket, with no more than three computers. Less trafficked locations could also be reserved by tickets, Hahn said.

A second proposal would limit campaign expenditures. In the past, tickets could spend as much money as they raised. The new code would limit each ticket’s expenditures to $5,000.

Rules and disqualifications were also discussed. The code specifies that violating the rules of polling locations or other University rules would constitute a violation of the election code. These stipulations weren’t included in past versions of the code. Likewise, previous versions didn’t specify the meaning of disqualification. The newly proposed code would limit disqualification to one election cycle, allowing students disqualified as freshmen, sophomores or juniors to run again.

Finally, a smaller change to the code would allow tickets to use the sidewalk chalk advertisements popular with student groups across campus. Hahn described this change as a “relatively benign way for IUSA to have an amount of advertising.”

While the election code will not be finalized for at least two weeks, Pai said it’s important for congress members to begin to familiarize themselves with its code as soon as possible.

“The decisions voted by Congress really do impact what happens with the elections and the outcomes, how people can and can’t campaign,” Pai said.

McCarthy also encouraged congressmen to know the content of the code and decide whether or not they agree with the proposed changes. The code will also be viewed and revised again at Tuesday’s Rules Committee meeting.