Student Council passed a bill last night to create an elections reform ad hoc committee.
Executive Vice President Ronnie Mayhew sponsored the bill after he said he become concerned about discrepancies in the current election procedures.
"The events of the last election in particular show that Council definitely needs to review and maybe even change the system," Mayhew said. "It was obvious that there were indeed different interpretations of the rules and our bylaws."
Mayhew referred to the appeals brought before the elections committee by Council President-elect Daisy Lundy during the course of the election. The appeals demonstrated these different interpretations of the rules and bylaws, Mayhew said.
Lundy's appeal concerned whether or not the 5 percent margin needed to secure a victory included the top two candidates or all of the candidates.
Will Sowers, vice president-elect for administration will chair the ad hoc committee that will last for the duration of the semester.
Mayhew said Sowers was the obvious choice for chair because he will be the one overseeing the elections next year.
Sowers said he is optimistic about heading the committee.
"We want to make sure that future elections are fair, just and efficient," he said.
The committee also will include the four original presidential candidates: Lundy, Ed Hallen, Brad Harrison and Mark Straub.
Straub, a representative from the Commerce School, expressed concern about the past election.
"I felt like [Council] took some shots that it shouldn't have," Straub said.
Current Vice President for Administration Atima Omara-Alwala, elections chair Julie Teater and Curry school Rep. Lee Hark also will serve on the ad hoc committee.
In addition, Dean of Students Penny Rue and Pat Lampkin, vice president for student affairs, will sit on the committee. Lampkin's office will appoint three students not involved with Council to join the committee.
Council President Micah Schwartz co-sponsored the bill and emphasized the independent nature of the elections reform committee.
"We're basically passing this off to the committee and saying 'let's create a new elections system,'" Schwartz said. "But we don't want the perception that this is just Council reforming itself."
Lampkin's Office also will perform an audit of Council's current election system and will report to the elections reform committee about its findings.
Lampkin said the audit will be conducted independently before the elections committee meets.
"We want to make sure we are able to take an objective view," Lampkin said. "We want to make sure that we are protecting all students and that there isn't a systematic bias in the system."
The bill set April 22 as the deadline for the committee's final recommendations for reform.
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