The Associated Student Body Senate voted against a bill Tuesday night to amend the ASB Constitution and Codes concerning campus elections. The bill proposed that students could campaign nine days prior to an election rather than the current eight-day setup. It would also have required student campaigners to stand at one of three locations: the Circle, Union Plaza and in front of Fulton Chapel.

ASB Senators Rod Bridges, Austin Dean and James Parrett, and ASB Attorney General Rob Pillow presented the bill in hopes to amend the ASB Constitution and Codes before spring ASB elections. Pillow proposed the bill after hearing complaints from students and faculty members.

“This was a part of my (campaign) platform,” Pillow said. “It covered a lot of the things I wanted to do (in office).”

The authors also added two new clauses that limited the number of students allowed to campaign per candidate at each location. The bill set a limit of 20 students per candidate at the Union Plaza, 15 students in the Circle and five students in front of Fulton Chapel.

Pillow thought the bill would make it easier for students to get to and from classes on election day by decreasing the amount of congestion on the sidewalk.

“I was hoping to appease a lot of the people who had expressed their concerns over the large number of (campaigners) and hopefully to create a campaign process that enticed more people to come out and vote instead of deterring,” Pillow said.

Senator Thor Goodfellow supported the bill saying it was his duty as a senator to keep the students’ interests in mind.

“The fact that less than a third of students vote in ASB elections shows the fact that students don’t want to be bothered by it,” Goodfellow said. “I think anything we can do to relieve the pain of them having to deal with campaigners on campus on campaign day is something we should do because we don’t just represent the third of students who vote. We represent every student at this university.”

Senator Luke Love noted that while he didn’t disagree with the bill in its entirety, he felt the bill limited students’ right of free speech.

“On our campus we actually have a green light for freedom of speech,” Love said. “I just believe that it does infringe the right to freedom of speech to impact the amount of people allowed to campaign for a specific person.”

Despite the outcome, Pillow was pleased with the senators’ discussion on the bill.

“Of course I’m disappointed that the bill failed. In the end it didn’t work out my way, but I trust the judgment of the ASB Senate.”

The bill failed with 25 senators voting in negation of the bill, 19 voting in affirmation and nine abstaining from voting.

 -Allison Slusher
ajslushe@go.olemiss.edu