Bill introduced in SGA House and Senate calling for no class on voting days
A piece of legislation calling for the closure of the university on voting days was read by the Student Government Association House and Senate tonight. It was tabled in both bodies.
Senator Austin Blessing and Charlevoix senior Taylor Ackerman co-authored the bill, which called for exams and university-sponsored events to be cancelled on federally recognized voting days so students may drive to where they are registered and cast a ballot in elections.
Nine organizations, including College Democrats, College Republicans and Amnesty International, and three SGA sub-committees voiced their support of the bill.
The legislation was tabled in the House so members can take back the resolution and discuss it with those in their Registered Student Organizations. The Senate tabled the legislation so several additional points could be added to supplement the material.
"The legislation has been supported by several deans and professors," Blessing said. "Furthermore, a number of companies already have (policies) requiring that their workers are given (the necessary days off) so they can vote. It is not like once you graduate college, you can't miss work to go and vote; there are places out there which (are) required to let you vote."
Members of the Senate asked for additional data to be expressed in the legislation to prove named organizations, such as workplaces, do provide voting days off for their employees. Several senators also asked for named approval from a number of deans of academic colleges, clearly expressed, so if the bill is brought before President George Ross, there is substantial support behind the bill.
"(Creating) this piece of legislation is essential to what we do as a student government" said Senator Shayna Haynes-Heard. "The fundamental issue with college students and voting is many of them are registered at home and they have to go home in order to vote. If everyone was registered in Mount Pleasant, then obviously they would still have time to vote and go to class."
The legislation will be brought again before the SGA House and Senate on Feb. 8.
Alongside the legislation, five additional Senate seats were filled during a second round of Senator elections. The election came as a result of students who expressed want to run for Senator but either missed a portion of last Monday's meeting or did not run because of a "miscommunication error," said SGA President Chuck Mahone.
Freshmen Jeremy Thompson-Chevalier, Taylor Clark and Samuel Bork, sophomore Luke Anderson and senior Myra Feagin were sworn in before the General Assembly prior to the usual breaking off into individual House and Senate meetings.
Thirteen out of the 14 open Senate seats have now been filled, bringing the number of Senators serving in SGA to 20 members, said SGA Senate Leader Rebecca Detroyer.
SGA will meet again for its General Board meeting at 8 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 8 in Anspach 162.
