The results of the SGA Special Election are now available. 162 votes were cast during the five day voting period from February 20-24, 2017. 149 students voted in favor of the constitutional changes, while 13 students voted against it. With a 92% majority, the legislation passes. The new policies, including the creation of the nominating committee and appeals board, will take effect for the upcoming SGA candidate election in April, pending final approval from President Hrabowski. Thank you to everyone who participated, your vote was sincerely appreciated.

Be on the lookout next week for the SGA candidate application and join us again from April 17-19th to vote for next year’s SGA leaders!

Did you know there is a special SGA election taking place right now? You have the opportunity to vote on new legislation that would reorganize the way SGA elections function behind-the-scenes. Read about the potential changes and make your voice heard at umbc.edu/studentvote. The voting period will end on February 24th at 5pm.

It is our goal to get as much student input as possible in regards to possible changes to the SGA constitution. Thank you for taking part!

In response to last year’s election season, the SGA is working to prevent identical situations like it in the future. SGA Senators Evan Leiter-Mason and Collin Sullivan have been working on amending implementing two major pieces of legislation to ensure a successful election season this year.

A Synopsis of Changes to the Election Policy

• Fixes the Board to 7 members, and requires that 2 members each by appointed by the Election Board Chair, the Speaker of the Senate, and the Chair of the Finance Board

• Establishes the duties of the Election Board Chair to publicize the election and candidates, report complaints to the Election Board and investigate them, maintain a shared email account, and publicize sanctions

• Requires the Election Board to exercise due process in its investigations and binds the Election Board to an evidence standard of “more likely than not”

• Requires the Election Board to vote and deliberate in person, except when voting to either dismiss a complaint or open an official investigation. In those cases, the Election Board is permitted to utilize official UMBC email

• Bans in-person campaigning at the Shady Grove satellite campus

• Explicitly requires the Election Board Chair to certify election results

Why the Election Policy is Being Amended

• Helps prevent election fraud from either candidates or the Election Board

• Makes SGA more accountable by providing clearer language throughout the policy

• Identifies key problems throughout the past several years during the Election Season.
  
  

A Synopsis of Implementation of the Appeal Board

• A new Board that will hear any cases where one party feels another party has violated any SGA Guiding Document

• Consists of 5 voting members: one member from each charter organization on campus - (seb), The Retriever, RSA, and 2 members nominated by the President and confirmed with Joint Legislation

• The Convener is an individual determined by the Director of Student Life who is a faculty or staff member from The Division of Student Affairs. The Convener will only call the Board to meet, and act as a contact for petitions, and will have no voting rights on the Board.

• Petitions submitted to the Convener is what will call the Board to meet. A petition must be signed by either 5% of the undergraduate population, or a petition signed by 7 sitting elected SGA Officials.

• The Board will hear both sides of any particular case and make a final ruling. Their final decision will stand

Why the Board is Being Established

• Allows for SGA to handle charges and accusations in-house; we will no longer need a last minute bail-out from administrators

• A completely new system that is unlike Supreme Courts used across the nation that are plagued with corruption

• This Board would have enabled SGA to internally resolve the problems from last year’s election

All legislation is now available to the public as a read-only document. Any and all feedback is encouraged in the comments section below. Or, if you wish, please feel free to contact the writers of the legislation at leiter1@umbc.edu or csulli1@umbc.edu. The Joint Legislation is expected to pass by the end of November, followed by a Special Election to approve the constitutional amendments. The Special Election is open to all undergraduate students at UMBC. More details, including time, location, administration of the election, and dates, will be announced in the near future.