House Editorial: Raise your hand if you want to be a senator
Posted on April 6, 2006

Up to this point, as today’s run-off election reaffirms, the SGA has kept mercilessly close to their apparent election philosophy: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

But beyond the current take-two Executive Council election, the SGA has, by executive caveat, instead turned proportioned senate seats into appointed seats, according to former Election Commission member Ricardo Piñeras. If at first you don’t succeed, you now veto the damn bill and let the Elections Commission appoint however many people they want.

Sometimes the SGA misses the bill. In this case, they are missing a pretty significant bill — one that keeps senate seats proportionate to each other and ensures an equal amount of representation from JMU colleges and residence halls. Because of this, the Elections Commission is now allowed to choose its own distribution of seats and has created what is, in effect, pure chaos.

Earlier this semester, the SGA altered its Elections Policy so that senators would be elected in the spring as opposed to fall, before the upcoming academic year. While writing the change to the policy, the SGA failed to write full rules for the election, effectively crippling the competition and making way for a stampede of prospective senators.

Last week, Senator Lucy Hutchinson (Sr.) proposed a bill to the senate that would fix the whole bloody mess. But, guess what? It didn’t pass through Executive Council. In order for an election to work, students need to be provided with clear guidelines so they may make an educated decision. At this point, anyone with a pulse — although, that stipulation is unclear as well — could run for senator, as long as they are able to raise their right hand.

Before the unfortunate mistake was made, college seats were determined by a very specific formula. Now, however, the formula has been reduced to mere fibers of what was once at least organized chaos.

The general election debacle that is only being resolved now demonstrates that the SGA as a whole struggles with the concept of “election.” But just because they cannot get elections to work does not mean we should be forced to abandon them. In this apparent feud between the SGA and elections, it is not the latter that needs to be curtailed.

OK, SGA. Call this election to order.