Bill aims to boost voter turnout, officials say
Hopefuls for the 2012-2013 Student Body Executive Office and Senate may have one less week to win over their constituents in the next campaign, pending a vote from the Student Senate next week.
The Senate introduced a bill Wednesday night, which, if passed, would limit campaigning from three weeks to two.
Student Body President Joe Wright said the move would improve “big-picture” focus in elections and reduce the risk of violations. The 2011 election process, which brought him to the presidency, was drawn out to a full four weeks due to runoffs and involved one violation hearing for early campaigning by former Vice Presidential candidate Katie Thompson.
“We looked at other SEC schools, and no one’s elections were as long as ours,” Wright said. “Having a shorter, more focused campaign period may solve the problems of people not voting, candidates getting caught up in pinpoint issues and candidates overspending.”
However, this supposed change in elections would also accompany last semester’s removal of the campaign budget cap, which formerly limited candidate spending to $1,000 and required all candidates to submit a weekly financial report.
Student Body Vice President Emily Saleeby said that, while the removal of the spending limit could give some candidates an advantage, last year’s drop from 4021 to 3245 votes (approximately 15 percent of the student population) concerned the senate enough to drop the budget limit.
“We’re not sure if the budget restrictions caused the decrease in voter response, but the proposal is to cut it out for this year to see if that was the cause of the problem,” Saleeby said. “People have run their campaigns on less than $500 and still won, so it’s really all about the candidate’s own efficiency with their money and time.”
Wright says that improved efficiency is his goal for this year’s elections. He credits this year’s increased senate reporting and the creation of two press secretary positions with helping SG to swiftly carry out motions for a $10,000 iPad 2 check-out program, which will debut with 20 tablets at the Thomas Cooper Library in January, a proposed 10 percent restaurant discount for students and an increased allocation of over $96,000 to 70 student organizations.
“I think we’ve been a whole lot more productive because internally we’ve been more organized,” Wright said. “Hopefully, this means we’ll see more people run for office for a more inclusive election.”
Wright hopes the new set of officers in 2012 will be able to carry out long-term goals, such as the building of a Congressional Advisory Board for the Statehouse.
Dependent on increased relations with the South Carolina legislature, the board, according to Wright, would be a more consistent and practical approach to the advocacy goals of last year’s Student Lobby Day, which brought fewer than 50 USC students to the Statehouse in an attempt to demonstrate student concern over public education legislation.
Filing for candidacy for the 2012 SG elections will begin in January, but the application may be picked up anytime at the Student Life Office in the Russell House. Voting will take place on VIP as usual on Feb. 14 and 15.