Elections and Appointments Committee Minutes
May 19th, 2014
John E. Sapp Conference Room, 6 PM
Chairwoman: Katherine Savage
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Call to Order
 Meeting is called to order at 6:15PM
Roll Call- Vice Chair Kontol
 Quorum is established with 4 members.
Approval of Minutes
 Motion to table the minutes. Second. No objections. Moved
Approval of Agenda
 Motion to change the location on the agenda to Senate Chambers. Second. No
objections. Moved.
Guest Speakers-none
Chair Report
Old Business-none
New Business
a. OB-14SA-2771 Restoration of Democratic Principles Act. (Sponsored by Sen.
Gloster).
 Presented by AG Matthew Harris: The general premise is that we all got
together on this Ad Hoc committee, and came to the conclusion that
something is not working with our elections process. This would change the
way that we do things, somewhat dramatically. If we take the time to go
through it you will see it is worth it. Title 3 closes a loop hole. Title 4 creates
senate liaisons. Also, college and graduate seats have never all been filled so
that will change these. Title 5 talks about changes in Title 6. Title 6 is now
chapters 4, before there were 18 chapters. This was the problem before, the
title was too confusing. So this change will make things way more clear.
Under this new system there are no signatures, and no requirement to attend
forums. The declaration of intent is the main requirement. The current
timeline will be removed, and new one will be put in place. There is also a
2.25 GPA requirement. This will get rid of barriers that prevent students from
running in elections. OB-14SA-2771 adds the government oversight
committee and the position of the elections commissioner, which will be an
independent office. There is this new relationship between the elections
commissioner and the committee. This is a way we can create a clear and
consistent statute, which affects this policies and procedures. The process we
have currently isn’t working, and it has a conflict of interest. Removing the
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E&A chair position will remove the Elections portion of this job to an
independent office. The new committee will only be handling appointments;
their role in elections will be the approval process. The only change to the
party system is the addition of the people running without a party can run as
an independent. All violation complaints are handled as judicial complaints.
602.4 states the polling times, minimum of two days from 9:00AM-7:00PM.
Assumption of office is similar to how it is in the current Title 6. This
elections commissioner position will be a 2 year term. Title 12 changes a nonvoting list. Appointments is changed slightly, they will now go under the
committee. This committee will make this application for senatorial
appointment. The goal is for there not to be any appointment seats available,
and only if someone leaves during term. This committee also is a part of
executive appointments. Signatures aren’t necessarily eliminated from the
elections process; it would be up to the commissioner.
 President Turner: This position needs to be completely independent
from the legislative and executive branch, to eliminate conflict of
interest.
 Motion to approve OB-14SA-2771. Second. No objections. No discussion.
Roll call vote. Motion passes 4-0.
Appointments
a. Ashleigh Watkins. Sophomore. Political Science, Minor Psychology. Interested
in CSC committee and E&A committee.
 Motion to confirm Ashleigh as a general seat. Second. No objections.
Discussion. Roll call vote: Motion passes 4-0.
Announcements
a. Next Senate meeting on June 9th at 6:30 PM
b. Next Committee meeting on June 16th at 6:00 PM
Final Roll Call
 Quorum is reestablished with 4 members.
Adjournment
 Meeting is adjourned at 7:01.