SA: Elections chair discussed

A presidential veto from Dahn Bull regarding the process for appointing the elections chair was discussed at Thursday's General Assembly (GA) meeting. The assembly voted 11-4 to sustain a veto against an amendment made by the Rules Committee that would allow the Student Association (SA) president to directly appoint the chair of the elections committee without a vote from the GA.

The amendment made by the Rules Committee was meant to eliminate one of two conflicting statutes.

Part of Bull's rationale for the veto was that during SA elections in November, the elections chairperson was responsible for maintaining the voting machine directly after the voting took place and that a biased chairperson could potentially tamper with the votes.

"There's too much room for bias," Bull said.

Cody Meyers, who will serve as SA president during the Spring and Fall of 2008, said he voted to sustain the veto because allowing the president full power to appoint an elections chair would create the potential for the president to make a biased decision on their own part.

Mike Davidson, senior political science major and member of the Rules Committee, was one of the few who opposed the veto.

"Now we have to go through this whole process again," Davidson said.

The vetoed statute included a provision that said the current elections chair should make a recommendation for appointment to the president. Members of the assembly argued that if the elections chair failed to make a recommendation, the appointment could be made solely on behalf of the president.

"I think it's important that the power stays in the assembly," Meyers said. "I think the chairperson of the committee knows the members of the committee well enough to make the right choice but the assembly should vote on it."