ASMSU spring elections to begin at end of March

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Officials from MSU’s undergraduate student government have selected a date for its spring elections, which will feature two ballot issues.

The tentative date for polls to open for ASMSU’s spring elections is March 29. The polls are scheduled to close April 5.

Tax-paying members of ASMSU are eligible to vote, ASMSU spokesperson Portia McKenzie said.

All voting will be conducted online at student-elections.msu.edu for both the East Lansing and MSU Dubai campuses, ASMSU’s Association Director Kara Spencer said in an e-mail.

Any undergraduate member of ASMSU can pick up a candidate petition in ASMSU’s business office, Spencer said. The last day to sign out a petition is Thursday.

“All candidates will be asked to submit a short biography, as in past years,” Spencer said.

“A short video address will be recorded and made available through various outlets for voters to review.”

Spencer said the videos will help students — particularly those in Dubai — connect to candidates and issues through Web sites such as YouTube.

To accommodate more students in the election, the Undergraduate Elections Commission, or UEC, extended the petition period one week to Friday. Petitions are due by 4:30 p.m., she said.

Spencer, who also chairs the commission, said the UEC is responsible for the oversight and implementation of the elections process.

On the ballot

Two issues — the Readership Program referendum and a proposed change to ASMSU’s constitution — will require student approval.

The referendum would raise the ASMSU tax by $1.25 and establish a permanent Readership Program at MSU. The tax would be revisited every three years.

The program provides free copies of The New York Times, USA Today and the Detroit Free Press campuswide to students with a valid student ID.

The change to the constitution would give students at MSU Dubai official undergraduate recognition by MSU. If students vote to approve the language, students in Dubai would have a chance to vote for representatives for a separate council in Dubai, Student Assembly Chairperson Kyle Dysarz said.

“Students in Dubai can vote for representatives from their respective colleges (in the March election),” Dysarz said. “They will vote for their own council after this set of elections because we first have to establish the council.”

Dysarz said voter turnout fluctuates from year to year depending on class size and ballot topics, but this year the organization hopes to bring students to the polls by raising awareness of the ballot issues.

Academic Assembly Chairperson Kristy Currier said past elections received a lukewarm reception from students.

“There has been a strong sense of apathy on campus,” Currier said. “People don’t really feel they make a really big difference, but elections are decided by students.”

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