Katie Williamson | Daily Mississippian
Rob Pillow, Rod Bridges and James Parrett defend the campaigning reform bill during ASB senate debates on Tuesday Dec 2, 2013.
For the second time in a month, the Associated Student Body Senate voted against a student election bill last night.
The bill limited the number of campaigners allowed at specific locations on campaign day for student elections. The bill allowed for no more than 20 campaigners per candidate at the Union, no more than 15 per candidate at the Circle and no more than five per candidate in front of Fulton Chapel.
ASB Attorney General Rob Pillow, Senator Rod Bridges, Senator Austin Dean and Senator James Parrett authored the bill and presented it Tuesday night.
The bill was reintroduced at last night’s meeting after the ASB Judicial Council clarified ASB Senate terminology and procedure Monday night.
On Nov. 12, twenty-three senators voted in affirmation of the bill, 19 voted in negation, and nine senators abstained from voting. Since there were not enough senators voting either way to create a simple majority, the bill failed.
The ASB Judicial Council held a hearing Monday night after Parrett filed a complaint that the term “present and voting” did not clarify how abstentions should be counted. After the ruling, it was decided that abstentions would not count as affirmation or negation and a simple majority would be determined from what votes were cast.
“Last time (the bill) was presented, the abstentions counted against the overall total for the passage of the bill, so had the abstentions not counted, it would have passed,” Bridges said. “We were hoping with the same argument, with the same changes actually with the compromise that we had with the bill before, we were hoping that the bill would have passed like it should have previously.”
The senators voted against the bill last night with 23 senators voting in affirmation and 32 voting against the bill. Five senators did not vote.
Senator Cody Smith spoke in opposition of the bill saying the senate should find alternative solutions to the situation.
“I believe that if we would have evaluated more alternatives, we would have something more acceptable to everyone,” Smith said. “I’m not here to represent the majority or the minority. I’m here to represent them all. I believe we could do something that will not inhibit the campaigners but will help the travelers.”
Pillow said he was displeased with how the senators voted.
“I do not believe that the senate voted in a way that was representative of the student body,” Pillow said. “Although the bill had support of the student body, faculty, staff, advisors, and many senators, those few felt the responsibility to deprive the student body of what it clearly wanted.”
Bridges wanted to encourage students to speak to their senators in order to voice their opinions on the issue.
“I really want to encourage people to evaluate the situation and really talk to his or her senator about the issue if that it is a problem that they’d like to see addressed.”
-Allison Slusher
ajslushe@go.olemiss.edu
