Duke Student Government clarifies election rules, bans coercion

<p>Executive Vice President Ilana Weisman noted that the new statute is designed to&nbsp;prevent coercion in elections.&nbsp;</p>

Executive Vice President Ilana Weisman noted that the new statute is designed to prevent coercion in elections. 

Duke Student Government amended the election rules for freshmen elections this Fall to explicitly prohibit “coercion” in campaigning at its Wednesday meeting.

Executive Vice President Ilana Weisman, a senior, introduced an election rules statute. Among other provisions, the statute clarifies the role of emails in campaigns, noting that no candidate is allowed to use a student organization’s official email account to campaign for themselves. Further, the statute explicitly added “coercion” as an action that would cause penalties for candidates.

“I don’t think that it is necessarily fair to privilege students who are running for senator positions that have some sort of position of power on campus, whatever that power dynamic may be, to use that status, whether implicit, explicit or accidental, to get votes,” Weisman said. “So this was my way of attempting to alleviate that.”

Weisman added that the statute acted as a remedy to situations that occurred in the past, but did not specify which situations.

Last year, then-sophomore Gwen Geng—a candidate to chair the Student Organization Funding Committee—was docked votes for sending a campaign email from SOFC's official email. The election was overturned in favor of Alexa Soren, now a senior.

The Chronicle also reported that the sorority Alpha Phi gave merit points to its members if they supported DSG President Tara Bansal, a senior, on social media.

The Senate also heard two proposals regarding the process for filling vacancies and at-large positions. Senior John Turanchik, senate president pro-tempore, introduced a by-law amendment that would allow vice presidents more power in filling committee vacancies. Senior Tanner Lockhead, vice president for Durham and regional affairs, introduced a by-law amendment that would cut in half the vacant at-large positions created when no one runs for office.

His proposal, however, would not eliminate those seats forever.

“When DSG exec appoints over half of undergraduate senators, it’s hard to pretend that choices are inherently democratic,” Lockhead said. “A smaller senate will lead to increased debate. It’ll make people feel more agency over project and cut dead weight.”

DSG will vote on the two amendments next week.

In other business:

The Senate unanimously upheld funding requests approved by SOFC from the Asian Students Association, Chinese Students Association, Kappa Alpha Theta and Pi Kappa Phi.

Sophomores Amulya Vadapalli, senator for residential life, and Brian Buhr, senator for Durham and regional affairs, were confirmed on the SOFC Interview Committee.

Buhr, along with junior Sean Gilbert, senator for social culture, and sophomores Sean Bissell, vice president for academic affairs, Josh Curtis, senator for academic affairs and Steve Hassey, senator for equity and outreach, were appointed to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Bissell, Lockhead and sophomores Kristina Smith and Monika Dharia, both senators for services, were appointed to the Financial Oversight and Appeals Committee.

Matthew Gayed and Isabelle Doan contributed reporting.


Likhitha Butchireddygari

Follow Likhitha on Twitter

Class of 2019

Editor-in-chief 2017-18, 

Local and national news department head 2016-17

Born in Hyderabad, India, Likhitha Butchireddygari moved to Baltimore at a young age. She is pursuing a Program II major entitled "Digital Democracy and Data" about the future of the American democracy.

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