The Associated Students of Madison Student Judiciary voted on election rules Monday night for ASM's Spring 2007 elections.
Last semester, several lawsuits were brought before the Student Judiciary regarding ASM's Fall 2006 election results, including complaints that there was no absentee ballot system in place for out-of-town or abroad students and that the living wage and Wisconsin Union renovations referenda were invalid.
In the Student Labor Action Coalition v. Student Elections Commission court decision released last semester, the Student Judiciary justices indicated that, ""While we do agree that an absentee ballot provision should find a place among the election bylaws, presently it does not.""
Among the election rules decided upon Monday, the Student Judiciary decided unofficial polling locations would not be allowed to save money, preserve the integrity of the election and ""prevent voter fraud.""
""While it would be nice to have a polling site in every corner of campus open for 12 hours of each day of the election, to do so would be unfeasible,"" Student Judiciary Chief Justice and UW-Madison junior Josh Tyack said in his concurring opinion in the SLAC v. SEC case. ""The SEC is charged with responsibly running an election, and part of that responsibility is a fiscal responsibility toward the use of student segregated fees.""
