The Student Bar Association unanimously passed legislation to change the body’s annual voting system from a plurality to a ranked choice system at a full senate meeting Tuesday.
SBA Sen. Thaddaeus Canuel, who introduced the Voter Options That Empower Act, said the new system will “virtually eliminate” the need for the body to hold run-off elections if there’s a tie and ensure election results are more representative of the GW Law population’s desires, since they’ll have the option to rank their preferred candidates. He said students will still be able to vote with the new system through Google Forms, ensuring compliance with current SBA Election Committee standards.
“It basically ensures that no votes are thrown away, and it may make sure that the candidate who wins has a majority of the people who want them the most,” Canuel said.
SBA President Cherissa Lindsay said the law school hosted a successful Barrister’s Ball last Friday and made $45,000 in ticket sales from student attendees. She said the funds from the event will go toward the law school’s commencement week activities and Student Enrichment Services, a SBA branch that provides support for low income, first generation and students with disabilities.
SBA senators passed 13 bills to distribute $4,895.83 in funding from the body’s ad hoc budget for students to attend conferences and host events for law student organizations.
SBA Sen. Omer Turkomer opened the senate floor to debate how much funding the body should allocate to each bill, given the ad hoc budget only had $1,968.70 remaining to distribute to the 13 student organizations that submitted requests.
Following a period of debate among SBA senators, Lindsay said she would allocate a maximum of $6,000 of the profits from Barrister’s Ball to the ad hoc budget to allow senators to better fulfill students’ requests. Law school student organizations, like the International Law Society, Legal History Society and Law Students for Justice in Palestine, requested funding from the body as well as students requesting reimbursements for law conferences.
The ad hoc budget will remain in a deficit of $2927.13 until Lindsay transfers the funds from the Barrister’s Ball revenue.
The next SBA meeting will be held April 1 at 8:50 p.m. in the LLC.
