On September 24th, 2014, the SBA met to ratify the changes proposed earlier to the election code to lower the threshold required to officially become a candidate for a SBA office position. This was in light of the fact that a higher than usual number of students are interested in running for office with SBA (at least 9 first year students have expressed interest). Following the second vote to ratify the removal of the unique signature requirement, the SBA Board considered extending the vote for the upcoming election for a number of reasons.
1) This will be the first time McGeorge will do online elections (though many law schools have done their elections online in the past), so we want to give the SBA Elections Committee the time necessary to do it right.
2) It was expressed that students who work full time, particularly evening students, would benefit from having a chance to vote over the weekend.
3) It will ensure that everyone that wants to vote in the election is given ample time to vote for the candidate of their choice.
The SBA Board unanimously approved giving the SBA Elections Committee an extended voting period. Please see the proposed revision below.
(Found at Section 2 – Subsection B – Part 5 of our governing bylaws.)
Current language
Dates for the election, which shall not last more than two (2) days; and
Proposed alternative
Dates for the election, which shall not last less than two (2) academic days but no more than (5) academic days; and
It is my hope that once we conclude the first year elections, we will have learned a lot from the experience of online voting and can make plans about the general election this Spring. That being said, our rules require (see governing language below) a 1 week comment period from students so that we can hear from you and respond to any questions or concerns you may have. Please feel free to contact me or anyone on the SBA Board.
Also just as a reminder, the larger revision of our Bylaws is still collecting public comment and will remain open until the 1L elections conclude so that we may have their elected representatives’ input.
-SBA President Ernesto Falcon
ARTICLE V AMENDMENT OF BYLAWS
The bylaws may be amended by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the SBA Board. A copy of the amendments must be made available to the student body for viewing for one (1) week to solicit public comments. If there are comments after one (1) week, the SBA must address the comments and vote again. Upon a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the SBA Board on a final version, the bylaws will be amended.
