Because students voted for an election commission last semester, elections this semester will be run differently, and the Judicial Board will take on a new role.
Jaret Hubbell, president of the Student Government Association, said the Judicial Board serves as the SGA’s “official supreme court.”
“Any questions I have concerning the constitution,” Hubbell said, “(are sent) to (the Judicial Board), and they reply (having had) good, valid research on their hands.”
Although the Judicial Board is usually a five-person operation, currently the board has only three members: Azadeh Alavi, the judiciary chair and a communicative disorders senior from Paradis; Jade Campbell, the university president’s appointee and English junior from Lafayette and Darren Poree, the SGA’s appointee and psychology senior from New Orleans.
Hubbell said members of the Judicial Board have to be a fee-paying student with seven or more hours; members also have to pay the student self-assessed fee, have at least 45 credit hours and have attended Nicholls at least one full semester prior to the appointment. In addition, members cannot be on disciplinary or university probation and must maintain a cumulative grade-point average of 2.5 with no less than a 2.0 semester grade-point average.
“(Judicial Board members cannot) be a member of the (Student Programming Association), SGA executive board or the SGA Student Senate because the separation of powers in different branches would be a conflict of interest,” Hubbell said.
According to the SGA Constitution, the responsibilities of the members of the Election Commission are to “administer, operate, supervise, enforce and direct all campus student elections by guidelines set forth in the election code … tabulate the results and set the dates of all general elections.” Though no definite members of the Election Commission have been appointed, Hubbell said the Election Commission will be active this semester. Hubbell said he and Courtney Ponson, SPA president and a marketing senior from Harvey, are “pretty much settled on” the election commissioner, and the other four positions will be two from Hubbell’s staff and two from Ponson’s staff. Hubbell and Ponson are currently reviewing which candidates will be able to provide the adequate time and devotion for the positions. Hubbell said he should have the members of the Election Commission in the next two weeks, during which time “the entire commission (should be) set up.”
“As soon as we appoint (the members of the Election Commission), they will be the ones (making sure that) the candidates are not campaigning in an illegal way according to the code,” Hubbell said. “They’ll be the ones tabulating the results, announcing them (and also regulating on-line voting).”
According to Hubbell, the commissioner of elections for the Election Commission is a unique position because it is an appointment of both the SGA and the SPA.
“(The commissioner’s position) is a bridge between the two organizations,” Hubbell said, “where (both SGA and SPA) agree this person is who we want to run both of our elections. This is the person we approve of, and from both the programming and government sides, this person exemplifies how we want things to run.”
Before the creation of the Election Commission, the Judicial Board was responsible both for running elections and judging their actions. Hubbell said the idea of the Election Commission came from appeals concerning the validity of the election for the recreation center. Several students brought forth their concerns to Alcide Maxwell, former SGA president, who worked with many individuals including Larry White, former judiciary chair and government senior; Elaine Musso, SGA clerk chief; Lisa Pierce, former Judicial Board chair and administration and supervision graduate and Jaret Hubbell himself to see if and what actions should be taken.
“(The Election Commission was created) so that somebody won’t say, ‘They ran the election; how can they be fair about judging themselves?'” Hubbell said. “It’s a fair argument to make, and it’s an argument that several individuals have continuously made.”