SGA looking to create election commissioner position

At a meeting on Nov. 23, the Student Government Association (SGA) introduced the notion of an election commissioner.

Last year, presidential candidate Phil Castro was disqualified by the SGA executive board for breaking election rules and distributing fliers close to the election date and areas. The decision to disqualify Castro came from an executive board made of some candidates in the election.

The decision to have a commissioner and vice commissioner progressed from the idea to revise the SGA constitution at the beginning of the year. The SGA broke the executive board into “constitutional committees” to draft various revisions for the constitution and deal with the SGA bylaws. One of the areas that needed improvements were the rules of elections.

“The passage of these bylaws will be ground breaking for the SGA as its implementation will be taking the organization in not only a new, but positive direction.” said SGA President Elizabeth Palmer.

The election commissioner will facilitate all elections that pertain to the SGA, will reside over all SGA meetings and will facilitate all interviews and application processes for the vice president, as well as the general members of the commission.

“The president will be like any other president in an organization,” Palmer said. “They will oversee everything going on. In this case it will be with the voting process.”

The vice commissioner will act exactly like a vice president, Palmer explained. His or her responsibilities include being able to take the place of the election commissioner if the election commissioner cannot perform their duties. In this case, the vice commissioner will take place as the liaison.

“There will be a liaison that will go back and forth between the commissioner and the executive board,” Palmer said. “For example, if someone needs to speak at the meeting they will let the executive board know.”

The general commission members will need to attend all meetings that the election commissioner will hold.

“However, I must make clear that the Senate must pass this by a majority vote,” Palmer said. “The SGA executive board cannot make these additions unless it is passed by the senate.”

Another guideline that the executive board must follow will be that if anyone from the board wants to run for the position of election commissioner or vice commissioner, then they must resign from their current position.

Anyone in the election commission may not run for an election, and if they want to run, they need to resign in an effort to maintain neutrality.

The decision will rest with the Senate and will be voted on at the Dec. 14 meeting at 7 p.m. If the election commissioner position is created, the SGA will announce how and when the commissioner will be selected.