Thank the heavens! SA election season is over!
Finally, the Union will be free of annoying, in-your-face candidates begging for your vote.
I've been a UB student for three years now, and much like most undergraduate students, I try my hardest to avoid the Union during SA elections. Candidates and their supporters invade the Union, precariously toeing the lines of masking tape, armed with fliers to shove in your face.
"It's a lot of people, a lot of noise," said Alex Dvorscak, a freshman economics major, after being stopped by the United and Reason Parties in the Union on Tuesday. "I kind of try to avoid it...I don't know if it's the best way of campaigning because it sometimes barrages people, and it makes them less inclined to vote."
If you're like me, you avoid the Union at all costs during election season, or you at least try to find alternative routes. The latter proves extremely difficult because the parties seem to line up at the bottom of the stairs or at the front door, waiting for their prey.
They're allowed to camp out in the Union because the "polling area" isn't very big, according to SA Election Rules and Regulations (last updated during Summer 2010):
"The Polling Area is the area extending 50 feet in all directions around the voting machines, unless otherwise determined by the Elections and Credentials Committee," the rules read. "This area shall be clearly marked by tape on the floor or other means. No campaigning shall take place within the Polling Area."
But the rules go on to state that SA "intends to comply with applicable federal, state and local laws."
That means SA wants to legitimize its elections by abiding by New York State Election Laws. Those state laws were just updated this year. Under the new law, SA's election practices could be illegal. A person is in violation of Section 17, subsection 130, Clause 4 of the election laws if he or she "electioneers on election day or on days of registration within 100 feet, as defined herein, from a polling place...For the purposes of this section, the 100 feet distance shall be deemed to include a 100 foot radial measured from the entrances...to a building where the election or registration is being held."
Quite simply, under the law, candidates and their supporters should not be campaigning within the Student Union; campaigners should stay 100 feet from the entrances of the Union, as it houses the voting booths. That would effectively put campaigners in the middle of the faculty parking lot.
David Noll, a junior economics and political science major who ran for SUNY delegate with the Blue Party in last year's elections, brought the clause to the attention of the Elections and Credentials Committee on Monday, just before the start of the elections.
The Committee reviewed the law, and it deemed the SA elections still legal, despite the contradictions.
"Although we are bound by the law, because all candidates have agreed to the campaigning area that we have defined, it was decided to continue with campaigning in the Student Union as planned," wrote SA Elections and Credentials Chairman Dan Kozlowski in an email to Noll. "We came to this decision after discussing the matter with the election officials running the polling booths, who formerly worked for the Erie County Board of Elections. They assured us that this was in compliance with the law."
But did the SA Elections and Credentials Committee deem the elections legal just to get them over with? If the Committee would have decided that the Union campaigners violated state law, the election would've been thrown out, and Thursday's results wouldn't be legitimate. SA would have been without an executive board for next year.
Throw in the controversy surrounding the Elections and Credentials chair's appointment and the fact that less than 14 percent of students voted (the small number is no doubt due in part to the candidates' harassment techniques), and SA election's results seem trivial at best.
If SA follows state laws next year, maybe we can peacefully navigate the Union. Maybe the cloud of apathy around this campus will disappear, and students will actually vote.
Email: rebecca.bratek@ubspecrum.com
