Topics such as early elections, balancing the voting power of the Graduate Student Government (GSG), and changes to the e-board bylaws were discussed during the e-board’s meeting on Feb. 22. 

Executive Board President Melissa Levy introduced a plan to change the timeline of e-board elections and hold them earlier than usual. At present, according to the GSG Constitution, the GSG Senate elects an e-board for the following year “in the last meeting of spring quarter.” 

The potential addition of four new e-board positions, which will be voted on by the GSG senate via email, has pushed the e-board to consider earlier elections. This move would require a constitutional amendment, which the e-board unanimously voted to begin writing. The amendment will need to be passed by the senate before elections can be moved.

Another amendment that was pitched would balance the voting power of the potentially-expanded e-board and the senate going forward. Currently, the senate has two more members than e-board. If four additional e-board positions pass a senate vote, then the senate would have little voting power. To counter this, the e-board proposed to give senators’ votes “twice the weight.” This would also require an amendment to the constitution to pass both the e-board and senate. 

Possible changes to the bylaws were discussed for next year. The proposed changes would establish a set meeting time for the e-board in order to reduce scheduling conflicts. The bylaws currently do not set any meeting times, leaving it up to each year’s e-board to decide for themselves. There is concern that such a change could pose challenges for future e-boards if their schedules don’t align, but the e-board was generally in support of the idea.