Joshua Ceballos/Assistant News Director
FIU’s Student Government Association is coming out with a new elections code that will change the way candidates run for office and fix past discrepancies- just not quite yet.
In the Fall of 2017, Dr. Larry Lunsford, VP of Student Affairs, formed a committee to revise the existing SGA Constitution and the elections code for the University, and issued a Wednesday, Jan. 10, deadline for these revisions.
The driving factor for this revision desire was the issues that arose during the 2017 Student Government Association elections at the Modesto Maidique Campus, when the original vice presidential candidate running with Krista Schmidt was disqualified due to campaign violations, but Schmidt was not. The election code had no procedure for this kind of circumstance, leading to confusion and a variety of lawsuits when Schmidt appointed a new VP: Jose Sirven, according to Lunsford and Sirven.
Despite the call for change, the Spring 2018 SGA elections will be conducted under the preexisting elections code.
In an interview with Student Media, Nico Hinostroza, elections commissioner for SGC-MMC, said that the new elections code is still being changed week to week, and is not ready to be used.
“All of the Spring and Fall was mostly spent focusing on the constitutional change… and some changes [to the elections code] have gone back and forth,” said Hinostroza.
One change that was proposed under the new code but never finalized was adding the comptroller position, which deals with budgeting for SGA, to the official ballot for elections. This would mean that presidential candidates would run with a VP and a comptroller on a joint ticket, making them a three-for-one deal.
However, this idea of comptroller being on the joint ticket was recently taken back and elections will run with only president and VP on a ticket.
Hinostroza said that for this year’s election, the elections board will be keeping a close eye on campaigners and candidates to ensure that they are following the rules, and in so doing avoid the same issue from the 2017 election.
As for why a new elections code hasn’t been implemented, it’s because there’s not enough time, according to an email from Lunsford to Student Media.
The SGA constitution states that, “changes to the Elections Code shall be passed by majority vote of the entire Senate membership,” and Lunsford said that there is not enough time for the entire Senate to vote on the new code before the upcoming elections.
The same circumstance is the case with the Student Government Council at the Biscayne Bay Campus.
Aaliyah Gordon, elections commissioner for SGC-BBC, told Student Media that BBC is also operating under the old elections code because revisions weren’t sent in time for approval.
The elections for SGA positions this Spring will be held on Tuesday, April 3, and Wednesday, April 4, between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. The polling places, as of Wednesday, March 21, are yet to be determined.
The candidates for president this election cycle are Jose Sirven at MMC and Jefferson Noel at BBC. The vice presidential candidate at MMC is Sabrina Rosell, and Jonathan Espino at BBC. All of the presidential and VP candidates are running unopposed. You can see the complete ballot here for the SGA Elections Candidates.
On Wednesday, March 28 in GC 150, there will be a Senator at Large and Candidate Meet & Greet starting at 7 p.m.. The meet and greet and town hall for the president and vice president at MMC will be held on Thursday, March 29 in GC 355, it’s currently scheduled for 7 p.m. according to Jerome Scott, advisor for SGC-MMC.
Feature Image by Nicole Malanga/PantherNOW
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