The United Alabama Project has released its election reform proposal for the 2014-2015 academic year, entitled “A Step in the Democratic Direction: The Partisan Reform Initiative.”
The proposal, which offers campus political parties as a solution to the University of Alabama’s longstanding issues surrounding SGA elections, includes a wealth of election data from here at Alabama, put in perspective by numerous historical examples and input from a number of faculty and students with experience in SGA politics. The proposal lists, statistically quantifies and traces the development of what UAP members consider the most fundamentally concerning issues in SGA elections: the consistent lack of diversity among SGA executive officers, the perennially low voter turnout in SGA elections, the low level of electoral competition in SGA executive races, and the highly corrupt state of the current campus political climate.
The proposal then uses election data from the University of Florida, the University of Tennessee and the University of California, Berkeley, to draw comparisons as the basis for the partisan reform suggestion it puts forth.
The proposal also contains additional suggestions regarding changes to penalties for SGA campaign violations, and diversity training sessions for SGA officers similar to those offered by the Winter Institute at the University of Mississippi.
An electronic copy of the proposal can be viewed here.
