The Mississippi State University Student Association Senate ratified sweeping amendments to the election code in its constitution, specifically the articles governing executive elections.
Meredith Sledge, senior interior design major and chairman of the Senate Student Affairs Committee, said the senate has discussed modifying the elections code for years.
“This year, we have a very driven SA Executive Council and a very driven group of senators,” she said in an email interview. “Our goal is to leave the elections code better than we found it.”
Daniel Fisher, graduate student in business administration and SA graduate school senator, said the previous election code suffered from ambiguity and redundant language.
“Prior to the recent changes, the elections code had some redundancy issues as well as gray areas which have caused complaints in past general elections,” he said in an email interview.
Sledge said the election code had become bloated as successive generations of SA senators added to it.
“Since I enrolled at MSU, the elections code has evolved tremendously,” she said via email.  “Over those years, the elections code has become very inconsistent and hard to comprehend.”
Fisher said the changes will have an impact on candidates and campaigners.
“The ultimate goal in the endeavor was to make the code more simple and straightforward, allowing any student to quickly become familiar with the requirements to become a candidate as well as the guidelines for general campaigning,” Fisher said via email.
Park Wynn, SA vice president, said many of the updates to the election code were superficial.
“I would say most of the changes are cosmetic changes,” he said. “They involved a lot of restructuring and cleaning it up.”
Fisher said the most substantial change to the election code was the definition of campaigning.
“The old code outlined ‘passive’ and ‘active’ campaigning, detailing what was included within each type as well as an approximate timeline for when campaigning was allowed,” he said via email.
Wynn said the changes remove ambiguity and simplify the job of the election commissioner, especially in case of a violation.
“We gave one single definition of campaigning and defined major violations and minor violations and the budget reductions that go with each of those,” he said. “It makes it easier for the election commissioner.”
Sledge said the SA Senate will now turn its attention to homecoming and senate elections.
“This semester we will be reviewing and revising the homecoming, Mr. and Miss MSU and Senate elections process,” she said via email.
Fisher said the current constitution will govern the February executive elections, but any new revisions will not effect next month’s voting.
“Any new changes within the next month will have no effect on the SA Executive Council election,” he said via email.
Fisher said he hopes students will participate more in the electoral process as a result of the changes.
“Hopefully, the students can become more involved in the process, either assisting a candidate or keeping candidates accountable,” he said via email.
Wynn said the election system should respect the rights and freedoms of candidates and voters alike.
“We don’t want students to get mobbed by campaigners as they walk across the Drill Field,” he said. “We have to walk a fine line between free speech and the responsibility of allowing students an academic environment.”