The Student Government Association Senate increased the budget for Miss Auburn campaigns and discussed requiring campaigns to disclose their source of funds at the weekly meet on Oct. 1.
Max Zinner, graduate school senator, introduced the bill to lower campaign funds for SGA president, vice president, treasurer and Miss Auburn candidates.
Sara Haynes, senator for the College of Engineering, said she spoke with former campaign managers and Miss Auburn candidates who said they couldn’t have campaigned with anything less than $1,000.
“I’d also like to point out that we have one of the best voter turnouts in the SEC,” Haynes said. “So clearly our campaign budgets are being used efficiently.”
Annie Ozment, senator for the College of Sciences and Mathematics, said student expectations for campaigning won’t lower if the budget is cut.
Riley Hambrick, senator for the College of Liberal Arts, said he supported the change, citing that Clemson students have a smaller budget and are still able to campaign.
Jordan Bailey, senator for the College of Engineering, said that Clemson’s campaigns were less successful because they had half of the voter turnout of Auburn’s campaigns.
Bailey said that $1,500 was a more appropriate amount for Miss Auburn based on a survey of recent Miss Homecoming candidates. Bailey said that about half of those who participated in the survey said their budget of $750 was not enough to reach all of the students.
“What are we to say to (students from lower socio-economic backgrounds) if they are not at the advantage to have money at their disposal?” asked Bri Thomas, executive director of elections.
Zinner said SGA needed to make sure they were representing all students, not just wealthy ones who could afford to campaign.
The Senate voted to keep the president, vice president and treasurer campaign budgets at $1,500 while increasing the Miss Auburn budget to $1,500 as well.
Zinner introduced an amendment to the code of laws that included a clause requiring candidates to disclose the source of all campaign funds.
Students deserve to know where campaign funds come from because those funds can influence people once they are elected, Zinner said.
Sam Nunn, at-large senator, said that Greek organizations will provide funds to help a candidate.
“You don’t go behind closed doors with executive members who say, ‘You are going to vote this way and that way,’” Nunn said.
The Senate voted to remove the clause from the bill that required candidates to disclose source of funding. However, the bill failed to pass despite the amendment.
Correction: A previous version o this piece stated that the bill requiring candidates to disclose their source of funding was voted on and then passed. The bill failed to pass despite the amendment. We regret the error.
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