Leslie Hitchcock, News Editor

The Appalachian State University Student Senate heard reports from within the senate last night at the Student Government Association business meeting.

To increase the student voter turnout, the SGA is amending its voting opportunities, reported SGA Rules Committee Chairperson Krista Whitt.

The first way of making the student body elections student-friendly is by increasing the number of polls accessible to off-campus students, said Whitt.

Additional polls will be set up in Raley Hall and near Walker Hall, as well as in the Plemmons Student Union, said Whitt.

This year, the ballots will be on scan-tron sheets rather than paper ballots, Whitt said.

According to Whitt, another difference in the electoral procedure is the implementation of absentee voting.

“For students who aren’t on campus at the time of the scheduled voting times, they can fill out an absentee ballot before they leave town,” Whitt said.

Students who are allowed to fill out absentee ballots are students who are on athletic trips and other school activities, Whitt said.

Another option that will occur in future years is the implementation of telephone registration voting, but this is only in the primary stages, said Whitt.

SGA Vice President Jake Parker anticipates that the new method of elections will increase student turnout.

“The new implementation will hopefully bring out people to vote that normally wouldn’t do so,” said Parker.

“It will also speed up the results,” he said.

 The senate also heard a report on the University of North Carolina Association of Student Governments (UNC-ASG) from SGA Student Affairs Director Nick Schuster.

Schuster briefed the senate on a 1997-98 plan for action that the non-profit, non-partisan organization is implementing.

In unfinished business, the senate approved a piece of legislation that recommends a vote on the Board of Governors for the UNC-ASG president.

The vote on the board applies to restoring the student voice, said Legislation Author, Senator Antoine Lilly.

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