Students to vote on DSG amendments

Undergraduates will vote on three referenda on the Duke Student Government executive elections ballot Tuesday, bringing to a close legislative reform discussions that began months ago.

The first two referenda deal with reforms to the Senate, changing the name of the Facilities and Athletics Committee to the Athletics and Campus Services Committee and removing the definition of residential location from DSG senatorial representation. The third proposes a change in the number of votes needed to pass a constitutional amendment from 51 percent of voters with at least 25 percent of undergraduates voting to a simple majority of whatever number of voters turn out.

"In order to change a spelling mistake, we need a large number of people [to vote], and we will still need a large number of people but this will make [the constitution] more of a living document, and make it easier to amend it to fit the needs of the students," said DSG President Matt Slovik.

For these three amendments, however, the old rules still apply--meaning that a quarter of the undergraduate student body must vote on each referendum, and a simple majority of those voting must approve each one in order for it to pass, said Dave Kahne, DSG attorney general.

In its meetings up until this point, the Senate has focused its discussions about the issue of legislative apportionment on changing the voting structure from residence-based to class-based. Tomorrow's referendum, however, will simply remove the distinction of residential assignments and allow DSG to create a new legislative structure in its bylaws.

"In order to change [the legislative voting structure] to class assignments, we have to remove the restriction on residential location, and in that case the bylaws would be used to make it class-based," Slovik said. "The thing to remember is that the dynamic of the school is changing--class systems will be pretty similar to residential assignment."

DSG's elections commission has set April 15 as the date for class officer and senator elections, with senators elected by class and to specific committees, as per the bylaw amendments passed by the Senate earlier this month, Kahne said.

For Tuesday's election, polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the Bryan Center walkway, at Alpine Bagels and at the Marketplace and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. online, Kahne said. He added that undergraduates will receive an e-mail tomorrow morning reminding them to vote and providing them with a link to the DSG website.

"We moved the elections back this year, because we tried to anticipate and prevent a runoff from being interrupted by Spring Break like it was last year," Kahne explained. Last year's executive elections took place before the break, but Slovik and then-junior Taylor Collison had to face off in a runoff election because neither had garnered the requisite 10 percent plurality as stipulated by election by laws.