The four other members of the Elections Planning and Advisory Committee -- Cyrus Attia '08, Justin Varilek '11, Ashley Smith '09 and Jeffrey Coleman '08 -- and I feel compelled to supplement the information presented in Tuesday's article about the Student Assembly elections ("Former SA candidates criticize EPAC efforts," Apr. 15).
We all see EPAC's role as not only to run a fair election, but also to collect feedback on the process after the voting is complete and to consider modifying the rules for future elections. This is an important goal of this year's committee, and one that we have long planned to discuss and act upon later this term. For this reason, it is extremely helpful for us to read about candidates' responses to various rules and procedures that played out this year.
The duties that candidates outlined in Tuesday's article -- advertising elections, soliciting voters and publicizing campaign rules -- should not lay on the shoulders of one body, but should rather be the shared responsibilities of both EPAC and the candidates themselves. It is EPAC's job to provide as much assistance as possible to candidates, whether they are off campus or not. Anyone should be able to run for any position. However, after a certain point, the candidates themselves should expect to take on some responsibility as well. Where this line should be drawn is one of the key questions that EPAC will be asking when we develop recommendations for next year's committee in the coming weeks.
Perhaps the most fundamental and yet important solution to frustrations with elections would be better communication between candidates and members of EPAC -- not only in the form of blitzes and face-to-face meetings, but also in terms of both groups being fully informed of the intracacies and logistics of the tasks at hand. In order to create a more mutually satisfactory set of rules for next year, we invite all candidates and others involved in running campaigns in this year's election to directly contact the EPAC blitz account ("EPAC") with suggestions. "Increasing communication" sounds like a nebulous goal, but the best way for it to be turned into a reality is for people who have experience running campaigns to themselves become involved in the management of next year's election. We would greatly welcome your feedback.
