Back in January, the Election Board asked you to tell us about your experiences with SGA elections.

Over the past month, the Election Board has been working to craft comprehensive policy reforms that address student concerns while maximizing the power of our annual SGA elections to engage the community in a conversation about our shared vision for the campus.

To that end, the Election Board is taking several actions on its own to address problems that have come up in the last few elections.

First, we are banning the solicitation of votes using mobile devices. It will no longer be permissible for candidates or their affiliates to approach voters with tablets, laptops, or cellphones to ask them to vote. Students must be free to vote at their own volition without the interference of candidates or their campaigns.

In order to properly enforce the new rule, this year the polls will only be open during set periods of time during voting days, to be determined by the Election Board. Restricting the hours of voting will disincentivize campaigns from harassing voters with mobile devices while enabling the Election Board to observe and enforce on the ground during voting periods. When choosing the time periods for voting, the Election Board will be striving to both maximize our ability to enforce the rules while ensuring that all students have the opportunity to vote in the election.

Second, we will be deploying a public awareness campaign to inform voters about the rules that candidates are bound by so that we, as a community, can hold each other accountable for our conduct. Keep your eyes peeled on myUMBC and social media for those efforts.

Third, we are establishing standards for the use of SGA funds for Commonvision purchases to prevent abuses that were observed last year. In doing so, the Election Board is ensuring that public funds are being spent for their intended purpose and that all candidates running in the election have access to resources to help them communicate their visions.

The Election Board is also asking the Senate and Finance Board to pass legislation which would resolve ambiguities in the SGA’s Election Policy and delineate clearly the process by which the Election Board makes decisions in a democratic, majoritarian manner. In addition, we are proposing a constitutional amendment to limit the power of the Election Board Chair to terminate other members of the Election Board and an amendment to the Bylaws to require that candidates for Executive offices be elected by a majority, rather than a plurality, of student votes. The specific language of these changes can be found in the document attached to this discussion, and SGA Guiding Documents as they currently exist can be found here. The Senate and Finance Board will be voting on these proposals at their meetings next Monday and Tuesday.

In summary:

We believe that these changes will improve the student experience with the election process. We are asking for your feedback on these proposals. Please leave a comment below to let us know what you think.

If you have any questions about these reforms or the election process in general, please reach out to Evan Leiter-Mason, the SGA Election Board Chair, at leiter1@umbc.edu.