NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT SENATE

87TH SESSION, 2007-2008

 

Government Bill 86

 

A BILL TO BE ENTILED

An Act To Authorize Use of Preferential Balloting in Student Body Elections and To Provide For Determination of Preferential Ballot Winners

 


Short Title: Efficient & Fair Elections Act

Sponsors: Senators Barnes (Corresponding), Beam, Burrell, Chen, Davis, Dawkins, Friel, Gannon, Howard, Mills, Parnell, Rogers, Rose, Webb

Signatories: Adam G. Compton, Student Body Treasurer Emeritus

Referred to:                        

Version: Committee Version

Version Date: February 11, 2008                                           First Reading: February 13, 2008

 

 


WHEREAS,   use of preferential ballots in student elections eliminates the need for separate run-off elections in most cases; and,

 

WHEREAS,   eliminating separate run-offs reduces the time consumed on elections, reducing the transition time for Student Government; and,

 

WHEREAS,   compared to a run-off, the initial general election typically enjoys a larger turnout from a wider cross-section of the campus population, ensuring that preferential ballot results better represent the interest of the Student Body; and,

 

WHEREAS,   use of ballot preferences reduces the need for voters to exercise tactical voting for fear that their vote will be “wasted” on losing candidate; now therefore be it,

 

ENACTED,    by the North Carolina State University Student Senate that:

 

Section 1.        Article 1 of Chapter 7 of the Student Body Statutes shall be amended by inserting the following:

 

                        §7-1.34A. Use of Preferential Balloting.

                        Pursuant to §7-1A.103, the following elective contests shall use preferential balloting, as further specified below:

(a)    Student Body President, §7-1A.103(a) IRV Majority;

(b)   Student Senate President, §7-1A.103(a) IRV Majority;

(c)    Student Body Treasurer, §7-1A.103(a) IRV Majority;

(d)   Student Body Chief Justice, §7-1A.103(a) IRV Majority;

(e)    Student Senator, §7-1A.103(b) STV Plurality;

(f)     Student Centers President, §7-1A.103(a) IRV Majority;

(g)    Union Activities Board President, §7-1A.103(a) IRV Majority;

(h)    Student Centers Board of Directors, §7-1A.103(b) STV Plurality;

(i)      Senior Class President, §7-1A.103(a) IRV Majority;

(j)     Student Media Board, §7-1A.103(d) STV Plurality/Remainder;

(k)   Leaders of the Pack, §7-1A.103(a) IRV Majority;

(l)      Contests granted ballot space under §7-1.2(h), §7-1.2(i), or §7-1.6, if so ordered by a Senate Resolution including a §7-1A.103 category applicable to the contest.

 

 

Section 2.        The following shall be codified as Chapter 7, Article 1A of the Student Body Statutes, numbered in the form §7-1A.101, with comments omitted from the codification.

                       

                   Part I. Implementation of Preferential Balloting

§101. Definitions.

In this act, the following definitions shall govern:

                       

(a)     An “allocation round” is a distinct complete set of vote allocations in Instant Run-off Voting or Single Transferable Voting created in the process of determining a final allocation awarding seats.

(b)     An “allocative tabulation” is a tabulation of results reflecting the applicable preferential vote allocation.

(c)     A “blank ballot” is a ballot containing no response from the voter in the particular elective contest.

(d)     The “highest preference” refers to the preference the voter has indicated they would most prefer.

(e)     A “legal ballot” is a properly cast, complete, non-blank ballot in any particular race.

(f)       The term “majority” has its ordinary meaning, which can be considered more than half.

(g)     A “preferential ballot” is a ballot for a particular elective contest allowing the voter to sequentially rank each option or candidate in order of preference.

(h)     A “preferential vote” is a vote cast on a preferential ballot.

(i)       “Tie” refers only exact numeric equality ties.

 

§102. Applicability of Preferential Balloting.

Preferential ballots shall be used only when explicitly authorized elsewhere in this chapter. When a preferential ballot is used, the provisions of this act shall supercede any conflicting provisions elsewhere in this chapter.

Comment

This section is largely self-contained, so provisions with conflicting instruction elsewhere are superceded, not removed.

 

Section 3.       Automatic Veto Override. Adoption of this Bill by a majority of the statutory                                       membership of the Student Senate shall constitute a preemptive and automatic                           override of any potential veto by the Student Body President. This provision is                           enacted as an adoption of a special rule of order, pursuant to §2 of the Senate’s                             parliamentary authority, and will expire upon the enrollment of this legislation.

 

Section 4.        This act shall effect upon enrollment.