SENATE RESOLUTION 114

AN ORDER TO BE ENTITLED

An act TO restore free, IMpARTIAL and RESPECTABLE elections for the 2007 spring general election

Section 1.        Statutory Authority.  This bill is adopted pursuant to the provisions of Article II, Sections 5(d) and 5(j) of the Student Body Constitution, and Chapter 2, Rules 10(d) and 17(d) of the Student Body Statutes.

Section 2.        The North Carolina State University Student Senate adopts the following Order:

WHEREAS,   the Student Body Constitution (SBC), as legitimately adopted by the Student Body of N.C. State University, delegates supreme and unconditional governing authority over student elections to the Student Senate pursuant to Student Body Constitution Article II, Section 5(d), to whit:

SECTION FIVE – Student Senate Powers and Duties.  The Student Senate shall:

[…]

D.     enact all legislation necessary and proper to promote the general welfare of the Student Body, and to govern student election;

[…]

and;

WHEREAS,   to assist in ensuring the conduct of free, impartial and respectable elections, the Senate delegated limited and conditional authority over such tasks as it deemed beneath its required purview to a Board of Elections as defined in Student Body Statutes (SBS) Chapter 7, Article 2; and,

WHEREAS,   such limited and conditional authority included an obligation to produce a final, certified ballot by 9:00am on the Wednesday prior to the Spring General Election that "[u]nder no circumstances may…be altered prior to or during polling" per Student Body Statutes §7-1.25 ("Final Ballot"); and,

WHEREAS,   such limited and conditional authority included an obligation to "publish a draft of the final ballot at least 48 hours prior to the publication of the final ballot for any given election" as specified in Student Body Statutes §7-1.25 ("Final Ballot"); and,

WHEREAS,   such limited and conditional authority included an obligation to "conduct at least one 24-hour test of the electronic voting system…the Thursday prior to opening of polls with the final ballot in place" (SBS §7-2.31, "Test of Voting System"); and,

WHEREAS,   such limited and conditional authority included the ability to remove candidates from the ballot for (1) withdrawal from candidacy (SBS §7-1.24, "Withdrawal from Candidacy"), (2) ineligibility for candidacy as defined by the Student Body Statutes (§7-1.11, "Basic Qualifications for Office", and §7-2.7(c), "Deliberative Duties of Commission"), and (3) disqualification from candidacy as a punitive matter (§7-3.10, "Disqualification Hearing"); and,

WHEREAS,   as a Senate-created and Senate-governed subsidiary body, the Board of Elections operates with enumerated powers only and has only such authority to act as explicitly defined by statute; and,

WHEREAS,   similarly, all rights and authorities not explicitly delegated to the Board of Elections are retained by the Student Senate under the elections governance clause of the Student Body Constitution (SBC Article II, Section 5(d)), and all campaign regulations are "considered complete and shall be enforced without addition by the Board of Elections" (SBS §7-4.3, "Regulation Completeness"); and,

WHEREAS,   particularly, the authority to remove candidates from a ballot for ineligibility under University requirements not explicitly defined in the Student Body Statutes rests solely with the Student Senate (SBC Article II, Section 5(d)); and,

WHEREAS,   at its meeting on Tuesday, March 20th 2007, the Board of Elections acted in contravention of its authority by "removing" the names of several candidates from the ballot due to alleged ineligibility under the recently-adopted University regulation governing student leadership, and further acted in contravention of its authority by adopting a timeline providing for the "revisions" to the final ballot; and,

[WHEREAS,  at its meeting on Thursday, March 22nd 2007, the Board of Elections acted in contravention of its authority by "removing" the names of additional candidates from the final ballot for similar reasons; and,]

WHEREAS,   while the Board of Elections has unquestionably demonstrated a good faith effort to comply with the regulations governing it, including those that may on the surface appear to be in contradiction with each other, its actions [in both instances] have been erroneous and consequently jeopardize free, impartial and respectable elections, as the Student Body has neither a properly-adopted and announced final ballot nor a timely final ballot test to ensure the integrity of the voting system; and,

WHEREAS,   the time-critical nature of these well-meaning but erroneous decisions provide almost no recourse for resolution short of requiring a ballot that has already been released to the Student Body prior to the mistaken decisions of the Board of Elections; and,

WHEREAS,   in light of such limited recourse, and recognizing the time-critical nature of all deliberations, the Senate is both obligated and compelled by its oversight authority of the elections process as established by the Student Body Constitution (SBC Article II, Section 5(d)) to resolve this matter immediately itself and cooperate with University Administration to correct any deficiencies after the election has been completed, so that free, impartial and respectable elections can be preserved; now, therefore be it

ORDERED,   by the North Carolina State University Student Senate that, pursuant to its oversight authority as established by the Student Body Constitution (SBC Article II, Section 5(d)), all actions and decisions rendered by the Board of Elections at its March 22nd 2007 [and March 24th 2007] meeting[s] are hereby annulled; and be it further,

ORDERED,   that except in such cases wherein a candidate has voluntarily withdrawn his/her candidacy, the draft final ballot released by the Board of Elections on Monday, March 19th 2007 as required by statute (SBS §7-1.25, "Final Ballot") shall be the final ballot placed on the voting server; and be it further,

ORDERED,   that the Board of Elections shall effect implementation of a 24-hour ballot test of the elections server to be completed no later than 12:01am Sunday, March 25th 2007; and be it further,

ORDERED,   that should the Board of Elections fail to comply with any portion of this Order, including but not limited to the provisions regarding the final ballot, such action shall result in the instantaneous non-punitive dismissal, without intervening action by the Student Senate, of all Elections Commissioners excluding the Elections Commission Chairman (SBS §2-2.36, "Non-punitive Dismissal Process"); and be it further,

ORDERED,   that in any electoral races in which the ballot stipulated in this Order is incongruous with the ballot loaded on the voting system, the results of such races are inherently invalid and the Senate shall schedule new elections for such races at the earliest feasible time; and be it further,

ORDERED,   the Senate Standing Committee on Government Operations, under its authority regarding the Elections Packet as provided by Statute (SBS §7-6.1, "Preparation of the Elections Packet") is instructed forthwith to amend the previously adopted Elections Packet to include the following language:

Candidate eligibility verification process.  All candidate eligibility verification shall be completed within three (3) days of the filing of these forms.  In all cases, candidates shall be afforded no less than five (5) class days after being deemed unqualified in which to pursue any appeals of the Commission's action or the underlying eligibility issue(s).  If the final ballot is due per statute (insert exact date) prior to the end of this five (5) day period, the candidate in question shall be left on the ballot provisionally.  Such candidates provisionally on the ballot shall be barred from being declared winner unless the unqualification is reversed by the end of the five (5) day period.  The votes cast for unqualified candidates ineligible for election shall be considered illegal votes, but will continue to count for purposes of determining majorities in the affected race(s).  Should an unqualified candidate for a student body officer position win or enter a run-off, the provisions of the ICE Act (Statutes §7-1.23) shall apply and the books reopened for a replacement candidate or candidates.

; and be it further,

ORDERED,   following the conclusion of the election the Student Senate President, in concert with the Committee on Government Operations, shall work in an expeditious and cooperative manner to resolve any outlying issues regarding candidates ineligible to hold office for failure to comply with University regulation.

Section 3.        Authorizing Legislation.  The Senate Standing Committee on Government Operations shall be empowered to implement the matters set forth in this legislation.  The Senate President shall retain overall implementation authority pursuant to Student Body Statutes §3-11.2.

Section 4.        Preemptive Veto Override.  While the Student Body President lacks constitutional authority to veto Senate Resolutions, in light of the time-critical nature of this matter passage of this Order by a two-thirds vote of the Student Senate shall nonetheless constitute a preemptive override of any potential veto by the Student Body President.

Section 5.        This act shall take effect immediately upon its adoption by the Senate.