Tomorrow and Wednesday, University students will have the chance to voice their opinion on several important topics posed to them by referenda on the fall elections ballot.
One amendment would pass the democratic duty of overseeing elections from Council to the new University Board of Elections, also known as the UBE.
Other various amendments would slightly redefine the consisting membership of Council's Rules and Ethics Board and would clarify the terms of impeachment for a Council member.
Finally, the most recent and arguably most controversial referendum on the ballot would give the First Year Council president and transfer student liaison a vote on Council's representative body during the fall semester.
Council Vice President for Administration Will Sowers said he hopes all of the referenda will inspire more students to vote in the Fall Elections, which typically have low voter turnout.
In order to increase voter turnout, Council also has planned for a candidate "meet and greet" on the South Lawn tomorrow and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day. This gives the candidates an opportunity to campaign and also allows students to ask the Elections Committee questions about the various referenda on the ballot.
In the wake of last year's election controversy, Council decided to completely reform and remove the elections process from under Council's authority.
Although election reform is a complicated issue, Sowers emphasized the need to approve the UBE.
"If the UBE is implemented, Council will be able to focus on working for the students to get programs implemented for them and not focusing on [Council's] own elections," Sowers said.
While some Council members said they wanted the FYC president and TSL issue to be debated and researched further before taking it to the student body as a referendum, proponents of the referendum disagreed.
First Year Council President Greg Jackson said it seemed as if no one on Council was interested in pursuing the issue of first year and transfer student enfranchisement, so he decided to take this issue straight to the students with a petition to amend the constitution.
"We're not trying to disrupt the system; we're trying to make the system fair," Jackson said. "When you first come to the University you don't identify with the College or the E-school, you associate yourself with others in your class."
Leah Eads, Constitutional and Bylaws ad hoc committee chair, said there were several constitutional problems with the proposed amendment, but added that the main issue of concern is the rushed nature of the petition.
"This isn't an expediency factor because it doesn't have to do with the spring elections -- it won't be implemented until next fall," she said.
If the student body approves the amendment, Council will have to make several constitutional changes to accommodate student opinion, Eads added.
Council College representative Tanay Amin, who also serves on the Constitution and Bylaws ad hoc committee, said he hopes voters will turnout to vote on all of these "critical" issues.
"The UBE and FYCP and TSL student vote are both very important to the concept of student self-governance," he said.
Students have the chance to voice their opinion on all of these issues in the election tomorrow and Wednesday by voting online.
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