Texas Tech's Student Government Association Student Senate addressed changes made to the organization's election code and passed four bills at their first meeting of the semester Thursday night.
The purpose of the code is to clearly define the rules and regulations associated with the senate election process and how elections are conducted, said James Baumgartner, SGA internal vice president.
The association is hosting elections next month for executive officers and senators, he said. The changes made to the election code affect how candidates will campaign and participate in the March elections.
"Spamming was more thoroughly defined to include phone calls," Baumgartner said. "In the student code of conduct it's only defined as written correspondence. We included phone calls, Facebook and texting, as well."
Other changes made to the code include moving the election dates to the first Tuesday and Wednesday in March so candidates can attend informational seminars and still maintain an adequate amount of time to campaign, he said. It also is now required that a minimum of 5 percent of students must vote in a constitution or referendum amendment election for an amendment to pass.
Less than 5 percent of the student body voted in the last referendum, which was not enough votes to sufficiently represent how students felt, Baumgartner said. He believes that the referendums deal with important issues that directly affect students.
"An election can't just be flooded by two or three hundred votes, and they get what they want," he said. "Those referendums deal with fee increases, changes to the constitution, and lots of really important stuff. We really need to get a better student turnout to get a good feel for how students really feel."
Sarah Saunders, an arts and sciences senator for the SGA, authored three of the bills that passed in the meeting pertaining to the election.
"It's really important because we want a lot of people to vote, that's why we even passed the thing that if less than 5 percent of the student body doesn't vote, nothing is going to happen," she said. "We really want a lot of people to get out and start voting this year."
In addition to passing bills related to election procedures, the association discussed an upcoming lobbying campaign at the state capital.
Lee Bobbitt, SGA president, said members of the association will be traveling to Austin from Feb. 16 to Feb. 18 to lobby at the state capital on behalf of higher education.
Members traveling to Austin will express concerns and establish relationships with members of the state government, she said. The SGA is trying to ensure Tech's student body voice is heard.
"The big focus, I think, is making sure the legislature stays higher-education minded and that college is affordable and holding them accountable even though these are hard economics times," Bobbitt said. "It's still important to remember that as students, it's hard on us too."
Baumgartner said the next big campus topic the SGA will address deals with transportation issues.
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