An amendment to the ASUI constitution creating districts within the student body will go into effect for the upcoming senatorial election.
The amendment allocates a specific number of senatorial seats to Greek and non-Greek districts. Of the 15 ASUI Senate seats, five are reserved for non-Greek members, five for Greek members and five remain non-designated.
Seven new senators will be elected this fall to fill two Greek seats, two non-Greek seats, and three open seats. Candidates are required to declare if they are Greek or non-Greek prior to campaigning.
“To be Greek means that you are pledged to or a member of or associated with any IFC (Interfraternity Council) or panhellenic organizations,” said J. Jacob Marsh, current ASUI senator.
Marsh said this includes any non-housed Greek organizations, such as Delta Zeta and Pi Kappa Alpha.
In order for districting to take effect, there must be at least three more candidates than there are open seats in a district.
This regulation was put into place to prevent candidates from being elected based on being the only candidate from their district. However, it does allow a candidate to be outside the top seven and still earn a seat on senate.
“The ability to represent students from different backgrounds is a unique and separate and valuable qualification that doesn’t always correspond to the number of votes a person gets,” Marsh said.
Although a student no longer has to be in the top seven to earn a spot in the senate, if their district has not been filled they must be within 20 percent of the votes received by the seventh place candidate.
“Part of the reason the districting bill was passed was to give students from all associations and backgrounds an opportunity to be represented in ASUI,” Marsh said. “… and to encourage students from all backgrounds to run for ASUI Senate regardless of whether they have the advantages traditionally associated with being a member of the Greek system.”
Adam Chadwick, a current ASUI senator, sponsored the bill when it was being considered last spring.
“The main goal was to get more than just Greeks into senate and into ASUI,” Chadwick said.
Chadwick said he sponsored the bill because he felt non-Greek voter turnout was low and he hoped the bill would change that.
“What it does is it spreads around the voting where certain people from certain groups, you can only have a certain amount of Greek senators, you can only have a certain amount of off-campus, you can only have a certain amount of kids who live in the dorms be involved in senate,” Chadwick said.
As with all amendments to the ASUI constitution, the districting bill was voted on by the student body and passed by a high margin.
“The perception has been for a lot of students that running is something that mainly Greeks do, that voting is something mainly Greeks do, and that being involved in ASUI is something that mainly Greeks do,” Marsh said. “I think that this bill can help to change that perception because that’s not really true. ASUI is an organization that every student is a member of.”
Marsh said it’s important for students to know that districting is not done by living group, but by association with Greek organizations. Off-campus and residence hall living groups make up the non-Greek district, while members of Greek organizations make up a separate district.
Marsh and Chadwick are pleased with this year’s candidate turnout, and hope to see the same in voter turnout.
“More candidates from all backgrounds, all majors, all living situations, all parts of the state and out of state — that’s how students are going to have the best options and that’s how we’re going to have the best senate and the best students serving the student body,” Marsh said.
Campaigning began Monday and elections take place Nov. 14 through 16. Students can vote online at vote.uidaho.edu or at any of the polling stations that will be set up around campus during the voting period.