Judiciary Committee fails bill regarding online voting

A bill asking to change Student Government election codes failed to reach the Student Senate floor Sunday afternoon.

The Judiciary Standing Committee failed a bill proposed by the Online Voting Implementation Ad Hoc Committee, which sought to allow remote online voting by revising the SG 700 election codes. The Judiciary Committee ruled the revisions unconstitutional because they do not ensure voters’ privacy, Ben Weiner, the chairman of the committee, said.

Committee members cited a 2006 SG Supreme Court opinion that ruled online voting unconstitutional.

The proposed revisions could have allowed voter coercion without the protection of voting booths, Weiner said.

“In a perfect world, if it was constitutional with the state, and it was constitutional federally, yes, it could go through a senate,” Weiner said.

Lindsay Abbott (Liberal Arts, Impact) said she agreed with the 2006 opinion.

She said the approval of students does not necessarily warrant a change in campus legislation.

Students will vote in the Spring for an amendment allowing remote online voting.

The Judiciary Committee initially failed the revisions Aug. 28 because election codes can’t be changed within four weeks of elections, and the original revisions were for Fall.

Michael Russel, who co-authored the bill, wrote in an email that he thought the bill would pass if the authors of the bill addressed the Spring election.

“Because this is the only thing they took issue with, we assumed that the Judiciary Committee would be passing these codes on to the Replacement and Agenda Committee,” he said.

Russel said he will resubmit the revisions with a letter defending them.

“Unfortunately, the Judiciary Committee allowed political preference to intervene before their constitutional duty,” he said.

On Tuesday at 5 p.m., the court will discuss student petitions addressing remote online voting at the Levin College of Law, Room 285C.