The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) passed new Senate Election bylaws in a unanimous vote at a meeting last Tuesday in the Driscoll Underground. Multiple changes were made to the laws governing elections, including the number of signatures students must obtain to be nominated as a candidate, the banning of listservs for campaigning and campaign budgeting.

The election bylaws cover issues such as candidate eligibility, requirements to be placed on a ballot, campaigning, voting, advertising, budgeting, violations and enforcement of the rules and contact with the election’s committee.

USG voted to abolish the need for candidates to obtain signatures to be put on a ballot. In past elections, a candidate for USG president or vice president would need to collect a minimum of 300 signatures to be put on the ballot. During the meeting, however, senators said they were afraid if too many signatures were required to be nominated as a candidate, then they would have to go through hundreds of signatures to confirm they were from real students and not joke names.

In addition, the original draft banned listservs for campaigning.

Many senators objected to this, so the bylaws were changed to disallow senators to “abuse” listservs.

For example, candidates cannot email listservs to groups they wouldn’t normally have access to because it would imply a whole group’s support, rather than just an individual.The Senate Affairs Committee (SAC) will determine whether a candidate’s use of a listserv is an abuse or not.

Another issue raised regarding the budget included amounts candidates can spend on campaigns.

Students running for president or vice president can spend up to $300 on their campaign, while students running for a senate position can spend up to $60. These bylaws were not altered from last year.

Candidates are required to submit receipts for materials, such as chalk and giveaway items, they used. SAC will determine fair market value for items that are donated if candidates fail to provide a receipt.

Katherine Snow, who read the bylaws to the assembled senators, defended the document throughout the discussion and made changes to it when necessary.

Snow drafted this year’s bylaws with Macy Holtzman, the SAC Chair in charge of executing and monitoring the election.

After reading, discussing and modifying the six page document, the seantors agreed they should pass the existing document through at the meeting while they had the chance, and address any future concerns with amendments to it.

Only 14 out of 21 USG Senators were present at the meeting due to scheduling conflicts, which required a unanimous vote of those present to achieve the necessary two-thirds senate vote for the bylaws to pass.

Senator Alejandro Gutierrez made the motion to pass the new bylaws, which was supported by a unanimous vote, officially passing the bylaws for the upcoming election.

According to Carl Johnson, director of Campus Activities, USG passes new election bylaws every year before the election takes place.

He said this year, like most years, very few changes were made from the previous version.

“The more rules you have, the more you have to enforce,” said Johnson. “Of course every senate likes to add their own style to the bylaws.”