The Associated Students of Madison voted Thursday to oppose the Wisconsin state Legislature’s proposed measures for electoral reform.
The measures include Assembly Bill 259 that requires students to carry Wisconsin Department of Transportation photo identification in order to vote, to combat fraudulent voting practices that occurred during the 2000 presidential elections. Other electoral reform proposals are also being considered.
ASM voted to, “actively oppose all measures that would squelch student voter turnout.”
“This bill is huge because it effects all students on campus,’ Jessica Miller, chair of ASM said. “ASM is taking a platform stance against any legislation that disenfranchises students from the political process.”
Miller pinpointed a few of ASM’s problems with the proposed legislation: First, with the amount of out-of-state students on campus, many do not have Wisconsin identification. In addition, the situation would be worse for freshmen, who would have only two weeks to obtain a new form. In the resolution, ASM supported Senate Bill 110, which addresses issues of better trained poll workers, accessible polling locations, multi-lingual ballots and other measures
In other business, ASM discussed budget requests, passing a resolution to grant $7,000 from the Internal Budget to the Travel Grant Fund, which assists student organizations for travel to events. The Travel Grant Fund received more requests this year than normal, so additional money was needed to fulfill those request.
A surplus in the student organization budget allowed for the grant.
ASM also approved the formation of a coalition with the Student Fee Defenders and all registered student groups to “[educate] students on the importance of student fee autonomy.” ASM also formed the group to defend the allocation process against, “attack in the courts and ? constant scrutiny in the media and on campus.”
The Student Fee Defenders aims to educate the general student population on seg. fees, where they are going and why they are essential to students’ free speech.
The group has several educational events planned within the next month.
“ASM has been fighting to protect the seg. fee system, and it is very important for students to know what they are, what services they provide and how they can use them,” said Miller.
Also approved were increased guidelines toward the release of stipends for the chairs of ASM committees. Committees include Campus Relations, Diversity, Finance, Legislative Affairs, Nominations and Shared Governance.
Stipends are paychecks released every two months that are allocated to the heads of committees. New guidelines require stipend receivers to report to the ASM chair on the Friday before the end of the pay period. If a chair does not attend a meeting he will be docked $25 from his paycheck.
