Finally, election reform - Editorial

Finally, election reform - Editorial

The Johns Hopkins News-Letter · April 24, 2003

It's been a rough year for the Board of Elections. Following two sets of elections marred by disqualifications and tit-for-tat accusations of violations between candidates, the BoE has been subject to sharp criticism from everyone from Student Council to the News-Letter. The target: overly restrictive rules that make disqualification far easier than winning. Toss in voter turnout in the single digits for some classes.

But next year's BoE has heard its critics. Newly appointed co-chairs Matt Bouloubasis and Rick Aseltine, along with the rest of the board, committed themselves to change at this week's Student Council meeting, pledging to loosen campaign rules and revamp their own constitution in their appointment bid. Now, candidates will be free to design more individual campaigns, limited only by spending restrictions, University rules and their own creativity. Innovative campaign methods are likely to catch students' attention, increasing voter turnout.

Talk may be cheap, but the new BoE shows promise. In the most recent round of elections, two senior class representatives were elected after an appeals panel deemed the write-in winners from the first round invalid. Voter turnout doubled. Perhaps not so coincidentally, the BoE used this most recent election as a guinea pig for newer, relaxed campaign rules. For the first time in years, a campaign banner hung in the breezeway. And no one was disqualified.

This election was relatively easy to oversee: With only two open positions, fewer candidates ran, most of whom had the advantage of Council experience on their side. As Aseltine explained, this made it an excellent opportunity to try newer, relaxed regulations that have been requested for so long. And as we have seen, the new regulations worked.

We commend Aseltine and Bouloubasis for pushing through the new rules. While others have failed to take the time to make necessary changes in the past, the two drafted and e-mailed proposed new regulations, which the board then approved. As everyone knows and BoE members have acknowledged, these changes are well overdue. And their openness to feedback bodes well for the coming year: The BoE will be surveying all candidates who have run this year in order to better improve the election process.

But this is just the first step. Hopefully, the Board will be encouraged by the success of this last election and continue to give their jobs the time and energy the positions demand. With a BoE commitment to continue its self-examination and campaign reform, the student body can hope to see elections that focus on the candidates and not the process. And while the BoE may be glad to leave the harsh spotlight, it will be the student body that benefits the most.