ASUC Elections 2007
ASUC Weighs First Bill in Possible Series Of New Bylaws

As part of a push toward elections reform, the ASUC Senate will consider tonight what could be the first of many bills that propose changes to the elections process.

Meetings to consider election bylaw reform will pick up again next week, but in the meantime, the senate will consider a bill that would require the results of elections to be tabulated within two days of the close of the polls, despite any pending judicial council suits contesting the results.

The bill, which was authored by CalSERVE Senator Van Nguyen, calls for the results to then be made public but clearly marked as temporary and uncertified until the Judicial Council certifies the results.

CalSERVE Senator Taylor Allbright, a co-sponsor of the bill, said the reform is intended to keep students more interested in the ASUC by making the elections results available sooner.

Elections results are generally not released until after the semester ends and must first be certified by the Judicial Council.

While he said he was generally in favor of the bill, Student Action Senator Jeff Manassero added that the release of an early tabulation could also give candidates a larger incentive to defend the uncertified results in any pending Judicial Council cases.

“It makes the stakes a bit higher, but hopefully it will raise the competition but not change the conduct (of the candidates),” he said.

Many ASUC senators have also called for an “election summit” which is set to begin this Monday. The gathering marks the continuation of a series of meetings which began last semester to reform the elections bylaws.

The temporary committee that was in charge of bringing suggestions for reform to the senate was only able to meet three times last semester, but members said they hope to forward legislation to the senate within the coming weeks.

“There are so many other (ASUC) meetings it is hard to schedule,” said Student Action Senator Sammy Averbach, the chair of the temporary committee for election bylaw reform.

ASUC President Oren Gabriel and other members of the executive board are planning to attend the summit, Averbach said.

Manassero, who chairs the constitutional review committee, said that while more work should have been done last semester, he was looking forward to working with the rest of the senate and the election reform committee to fix the bylaws.

“We should have really started last semester,” he said. “(But) rather than work seperately, we should work together.”

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