|
Student Government should be proactive
University Chronicle
EDITORIAL BOARD
The issue: Student Government is trying to decide how to count abstentions in the vote on the amendments.
What we think: Student Government should have decided how to count abstentions before the election. Now is too late.
Even though Student Government elections took place Wednesday and Thursday of last week, Student Government is still trying to decide how to count the abstentions in the vote on the amendments to the Student Constitution.
The problem came about because some students, who voted for Student Government president or senators, did not mark yes or no on the vote for the amendments. Now, Student Government cannot decide whether to discount the unmarked ballots or to count them as "no" votes. The student organization is in a quagmire.
According to Election Committee chair, Danielle Grabowski, her committee will meet this week to interpret the voting results. Unfortunately, Student Government did not make a decision on abstentions before the election. The lack of preparation raises questions about the credibility of the current Student Government.
Fortunately, our state government had the foresight to create a provision on abstentions, knowing that some voters will abstain from voting on amendments. The abstentions act like a "no" vote, and are counted in the majority. The provision makes it all the more difficult to change the time-tested constitution.
The SCSU Student Constitution does not include any type of policy on how to handle abstentions, and the Student Government should not try to come up with one now. The Student Constitution only states: "If approved by a majority of those voting and if at least eight percent of the Association membership votes, they (amendments) shall be submitted to the University President for approval."
The Student Government should only count the votes that were made. It is too late to make any decisions on how to count the abstentions in this election, but before any future elections are conducted, a provision should be made.
The opinions expressed on the Commentary and Opinions pages are not necessarily those of the college, university, system or student body.
|
|
|
|
|
|
