Student Congress discusses reforming elections, approving nominations

Student Congress committees met Tuesday and discussed reforming elections and approving executive branch nominations.

Student body elections

The rules and judiciary committee voted 4-2 to report favorably a bill that would decrease the length of the election season from 28 days to 21 days.

The bill, introduced by Student Body President Jasmin Jones, would also decrease the spending limits of candidates to reflect the decreased time candidates would have to campaign.

If passed, the bill would change the following amounts:

-Student body president candidates: decrease from $400 to $300

-Carolina Athletic Association: decrease from $400 to $300

-Residence Hall Association president: decrease from $250 to $200

-Graduate and Professional Student Federation president: decrease from $250 to $200

-Senior class officers: decrease from $150 to $100

-Student congress candidates: decrease from $20 to $15

-Homecoming court candidates: decrease from $150 to $100

Jones said the bill was meant to make the election season less costly and more efficient.

Jones also said this bill was a compromise with Student Congress members, who passed a bill last week to reform election laws by eliminating runoffs in situations where no candidate receives a majority of votes — a bill Jones said she will veto.

The new bill will go to full Congress on Tuesday.

Officer appointments

The committee also reported favorably all of the Executive Branch officer nominations for the 2010-11 school year.

The nominations were Holly Boardman for student body vice president, Dakota Williams for student body treasurer, Ian Lee for student body secretary and Sarah Core for student attorney general.

The candidates answered questions from Congress members about their future obligations and goals for the position.

They must be confirmed by full Congress at next week’s meeting.



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.