Student Senate wades through school minutia
■The Senate’s business
includes special requests and
appointments to the ASUO
Constitution Court
By Emily Gust
Oregon Daily Emerald
The ASUO Constitution Court’s
empty seats have been filled, and
the ASUO Student Senate has
Student
Senate
made it
through one
more Wednes
day night
meeting.
During an
hour and a
half of ap
pointments,
special re
quests, and
other busi
ness, the Sen
ate appointed two more members
to the five-member court, which
means the body is now complete.
The Senate unanimously ap
pointed second-year law student
Richard Jameson, who said he was
“solid anaJytically.”“I would feel
very comfortable having him on
the court,” Senate President Peter
Watts said.
Political science major Alan
Tauber was the undergraduate ad
dition, and he said his deep inter
est in law made him a good candi
date.
Several senators spoke in favor
of Tauber, including Sen. Jennifer
Greenough, who said that “he has
a very high level of integrity.”
Plowing through another two
appointments, the Senate placed
two students on the Senate Pro
grams Finance Committee: third
year biochemistry major Aaron
Week and junior pre-psychology
major Lawrence Gillespie. Week
was a member of the PFC last year.
In addition to appointments, the
Senate passed three special re
quests, ranging from $999 to $38
in surplus funds.
The first request came from the
YWCA, which asked for $475 from
surplus to help cover the cost of
publishing its new magazine,
Identity.
YWCA magazine coordinator
Alissa Scott said the magazine —
which is brand-new this year and
thus was not included in the
group’s budget last year — will fo
cus on issues such as sexism,
racism and diversity.
Many senators supported the re
quest, saying that allowing more
voices to be heard on campus is an
important thing.
“I just think the poverty of dia
logue on issues of diversity on this
campus is something we need to
think about,” Sen. Serene Khader
said.
The Senate passed a request
from the ASUO Executive asking
for $999 to help cover some of the
registration costs for a leadership
conference in Portland. The North
west Student Leadership Confer
ence takes place this weekend, and
students from several ASUO
groups will attend.
A final request of $38 was ap
proved for the Future Lawyers As
sociation to cover the cost of rent
ing the Knight Library Browsing
Room earlier this term. The room
was rented to host a speech by
Judge Paul DeMuniz, who was
then running for a spot on the state
Supreme Court.
Land Air Water approached the
senate with something a bit differ
ent Wednesday night: It sought the
senate’s opinion on a potential re
quest. LAW hosts the Public Inter
est Environmental Law Confer
ence each spring, an event that
attracts more than 3,000 people
from around the country.
The group would like to present
a keynote speaker from Madagas
car but recently realized a plane
ticket from that country would
cost about $6,000.
LAW has already raised $24,000
for the conference and the Senate
budgeted the group $6,000 for this
year. LAW said that it may be pos
sible to raise an additional $1,000
or so before the conference, but
$6,000 was not possible.
Most senators agreed the request
was something they would either
consider or support if and when it
comes in the spring.
President
continued from page 1A
da holds the key to the national
race.
Buchanan got 3,407 votes for
president in the heavily Democra
tic county Tuesday, more than he
received in any other Florida
county, according to unofficial re
turns. Two larger counties south of
Palm Beach both had much lower
Buchanan results — 789 in
Broward County and 561 in Mia
mi-Dade County. In Duval County,
a much more conservative county
in northeast Florida, only 650
Buchanan votes were cast.
The confusion apparently arose
from the way the county’s punch
card style ballot was laid out. Can
didates are listed in two columns,
with holes down the middle be
tween the columns, to the right or
the left of each candidate’s name.
The top hole was for Bush, who
was listed at top left; the second
r
hole was for Buchanan, listed at
top right, and the third hole was
for Gore, listed under Bush on the
left. Arrows linked the names with
the proper hole, but some voters
feared they had missed the arrows
and punched the wrong hole.
Florida law specifies that voters
mark an X in the blank space to the
right of the name of the candidate
they want to vote for.
Jeff Liggio, a lawyer for county
Democrats, called the ballot illegal
“Right means right, doesn’t it? The
state law says right. It doesn’t
mean left,” he said.
Don A. Dillman of the American
Association for Public Opinion Re
search, who has done research on
the design of paper questionnaires,
agreed that the ballot was confus
ing.
“I’ve never seen one set up like
this,” Dillman said from Pullman,
Wash. “It’s very confusing the way
they have put things on the right
side together with things on the
010644
the UO cultural forum
in their only Oregon appearance
thursday, nov, 16, 9pm
the WOW hal
8th and lincoln in
downtown engine
sn eugene # house of records & the WOW hall
left side. I can see why there might
be a problem. If you passed over
the first candidate to go for the sec
ond candidate, it’s logical that
you’d punch the second hole.”
But Clay Roberts, director of the
Florida Department of Elections,
said the problem was exaggerated.
“I don’t think they are confused.
I think they left the polling place
and became confused. The ballot
is very straightforward,” said
Roberts, a Republican appointed
by Gov. }eb Bush, George W.’s
brother.
Meanwhile, officials began re
counting nearly 6 million ballots
to determine the next president,
while Democrats and some voters
complained of irregularities in the
election.
The recount in all 67 counties
was triggered by state law because
Bush led Gore by less than one
half of 1 percent. State officials
said they will count every ballot
again and expect to be finished by
the end of today.
In Florida and elsewhere, De
mocrats grumbled about long lines
at the polls, reports that ballots
were late in arriving at polling
places and other possible irregu
larities.
“We’ve received literally thou
sands of telephone calls and in
quiries and reports of irregularities
like ballots appearing and disap
pearing, voter intimidation and the
totals of this election sort of myste
riously disappearing and growing
overnight,” state Democratic Party
chairman Bob Poe said.
Florida elections supervisors
also waited for an undetermined
number of overseas ballots, prima
rily from military personnel and
their families. The state allows 10
days after the election for the bal
lots to come in.
The state counted about 2,300
overseas ballots in the 1996 presi
dential election - more than the
margin separating Gore and Bush
this time - so there is a remote
possibility that those ballots alone
could change the outcome.
Although both candidates typi
cally pick up votes in a recount,
veterans of the process said it is
unusual for one side to pick up
enough votes to make a difference
in the outcome. . , .i . ,,, .
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