In the final meeting of the year, the student government’s Student Senate unknowingly broke a state law when it held a secret vote to elect the chair and vice chair for a summer committee.
All student government committees are required to follow the same Oregon Public Meetings Laws as city and state governments, and according to the law, “secret ballots are prohibited.”
In October, the Senate voted in a closed ballot, in violation of the law, when senators voted secretly for officer positions such as president, vice president and treasurer.
The former Student Senate president, Stephanie Erickson, who has remained on the body for the last two weeks to help familiarize new senators with procedures, on Wednesday handed out pieces of paper to each member and told them to write their choices for the summer Senate chairperson and vice chairperson positions.
Senators did not write their own names and wrote only the names of the senators they chose for the officer positions. Erickson and a new senator counted the votes in the corner of the room. Erickson then announced who won the position.
When the Emerald requested a tally to see how close the votes were, Erickson said she would not give it out to protect the people who voted. Although they are elected officials, Erickson said it’s not required that she give their names or voting preference.
After the meeting, Erickson said there is no existing rule that forces her to publicize the ballot count or who voted for whom. Therefore, she said, it is at her discretion to release the tally.
She wouldn’t release it, but she said the Emerald could look in the recycling bin after she threw away the individual pieces of paper.
According to the public meetings laws, having a written ballot is not prohibited, “but each ballot must identify the member voting and the vote must be announced.” None of the voting members were identified, and their votes were not announced.
Erickson said after the meeting that she looked at the law and was wrong about the rules for closed ballots. She apologized but said she’s officially not on Senate anymore so it doesn’t matter.
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