Editorial: FEPC guidelines too convoluted for fair elections

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The Fair Elections and Practices Commission with the University of Maine Student Government has come under almost universal fire from senators and student government leadership for the better part of a year.

The commission, which governs all elections for student offices, uses a 21-page document to regulate election rules. The document is convoluted and often contradictory, namely in the section which discusses campaigning for offices.

Section four, discussing election timetables, states that “three weeks prior to the election, for the term of one week, candidates shall be allowed to complete nomination papers” and that “two weeks prior to election shall be allowed for campaigning.” Following less than a page later, the section designated to campaigning etiquette proceeds to revoke all prior timing restraints, declaring “campaigning may begin immediately upon availability of nomination papers.”

With such unintelligible instructions, it is hardly surprising that the elections process has a history of discord. Due to the confusion and reported potential errors during the last student body presidential election, an ad hoc committee to amend the guidelines was established last January, yet still no changes have been made.

The longer a problem such as this is left unsolved, the more damaged reputations become and in this case, those falling under harsh scrutiny are respectable, hardworking student leaders.

The solution is simple: the committee must be proactive and act upon the duty it has promised to fulfill. With student elections coming up again this fall, it is imperative that these issues be addressed and assuaged immediately to ensure successful campaigns for all.

Diligent student campaigners and the university as a whole deserve to have confidence in how they conduct themselves. If the committee does not act on their word to ensure the legitimacy of the campaigning process, the faith in university politics here on campus will surely continue to plummet.

With all the setbacks that the university has faced over the past year, we simply cannot afford any more loss in direction.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 9th, 2010, 2:44 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.