The election, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday, will likely contain a referendum that, if passed, would raise the student activity fee to $16.50 per semester for all students.
The fee is now $11.50 per semester for undergraduate students and $9.50 per semester for graduate students, an amount that has remained fixed since 1984. The student activity fee funds various student groups on campus.
Tony Larson, speaker of the 84th session of Congress, said it is Congress's responsibility to initiate the part of the special election dealing with the referendum.
But Larson said he asked Student Body President Jen Daum to call for the election to fill empty congressional seats and that she committed to honor that request.
It is the student body president's responsibility to call special elections to fill congressional seats.
"I've told Jen that we wanted to have an election to fill the empty seats and to vote on the referendum," Larson said. "The plan is to hold them both on the 23rd."
Larson said that for the referendum to be included on the election ballot, a resolution will need to be approved by the Rules and Judiciary Committee and then the full Congress.
Blair Sweeney, the chairman of the Rules and Judiciary committee, said he would coordinate a committee meeting early next week so the resolution can go before Congress on Wednesday night.
Larson said he expects the resolution -- which is identical to the one approved by the 83rd Congress for last Tuesday's election -- to be approved by Congress in its basic form. The date of the special election was postponed Monday because miscommunication among different branches of student government prevented the Board of Elections from hearing about the election seven days in advance, as rules stipulate.
