Ohio University Student Senate passed a resolution to shorten the election campaigning period to 22 days instead of the usual 30 after members decided that the originally proposed 16-day campaign period was too brief.
Currently, according to senate's Board of Elections rules, candidates for the Student Senate election may start campaigning 30 days before the election, which, this year, fell before applications for candidacy were even due. Now, campaigning will begin 22 days before the last election day. Senate voted earlier this month to increase the election voting period to two days instead of one.
Campaigning is like a full-time job
said Emily Hanford, City and County Affairs Commissioner and a sponsor of the resolution. This is compressing everything into (about) two weeks. Hanford ran for Student Senate president this year and lost to current-Academic Affairs Commissioner Jesse Neader.
Hanford also pointed out that this model gives the Board of Elections more time to advertise before the election, which she said would hopefully get more students outside of Student Senate involved.
The resolution also states that Board of Elections members will be named by week four of Winter Quarter, instead of the beginning of Spring Quarter. This would allow the board to advertise the election during the last three weeks of Winter Quarter and get more students to apply to run for senate.
I think that those who aren't involved in senate they don't know necessarily what goes into elections said Emily Bacha, senate's vice president and a sponsor of the resolution. It's more about (getting) the word (out) that you can run for Student Senate.
The resolution also requires the Board of Elections to hold one information session about senate elections at the end of Winter Quarter and one at the beginning of Spring Quarter.
(The board) could hold information sessions ... so people are aware of the election process
how to run and form a ticket
Bacha said.
Student Senate also passed a resolution requesting that Athens City Council wait until Fall Quarter to vote on the proposed noise ordinance, instead of put it to a first reading over the summer when most students will not be in Athens.
It would be better to put a pause button on it until fall
said John Calhoun, senator for the College of Arts and Sciences and a sponsor of the resolution.
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Pamela Engel
