Student Government: Online voting to resurface

During Tuesday’s Student Senate meeting, the Student Senate unanimously approved nine bills that will put nine amendments to the constitution on the Spring 2017 ballot, including one for online voting.

The amendments were previously voted on in past elections but the recent Supreme Court decision, “Interpretation of The University of Florida Constitution: Section 4 Article VIII,” removed them June 25.

The amendments were removed because they didn’t meet a 60 percent vote of approval. The ruling said students who don’t vote for a certain amendment while filling out a ballot will be counted as being against the amendment.

One of the biggest criticisms the Supreme Court received was its decision to remove online voting from the constitution. However, with the passing of the “Amendment to Student Body Constitution Article VI” bill, online voting will be back on the ballot in Spring 2017.

During the public debate, Ben Duong, a 21-year-old UF microbiology and political science senior, said students will not read through nine lengthy amendments, which will cause them to fail.

Instead, he said the Student Senate could make amendments for online voting and anti-discrimination to pass them into law.

“This Student Government Body has elected to compile three of the UF Supreme Court rejected amendments into a single amendment for the Spring 2017 ballot, to be voted upon alongside eight other amendments,” he said. “This will serve to do nothing more than bury online voting.”

Chase Werther, a 19-year-old UF philosophy sophomore, shared a similar opinion.

Werther said the time it took students to vote in past elections was only two minutes, and voter turnout was still low.

She said more amendments will cause the rate to be even lower.

“If we combine this with the Supreme Court’s decision to count those who don’t vote on a referendum as people who actually voted, we will be sending online voting on a suicide mission,” Werther said.

Several other amendments include an update on the UF anti-discrimination policy, the option to decrease Student Senate members in Fall and Spring from 60 maximum to 50 maximum, a change of the start date for Summer Replacement Senator nominations, and the option to make the Head of Departments’ terms to expire at the same time as the elected executive officials.

Other amendments would change the responsibilities of the Student Honor Court Chancellor, a position that no longer exists, to the Chief Justice and Elections Commissions, while striking any references to Student Honor Court from the Constitution.

Students can find the full bills on the UF SG website by visiting “Resources,” clicking “Senate” and then “Bill 2016-1049 to 2016-1054” under the Bills section.