Amendments to Student Government (SG)’s Elections and Rules (E&R) committee passed last night with a unanimous vote, following nine months of pressure to reform. The push to increase transparency stems from a series of violations that came to light during the last election cycle.

Last quarter, revisions were tabled after the first assembly meeting, not discussed at the second, and short of the two-thirds vote needed to pass during the third.

“Basically…the concern was that there would be vitriol aimed at [students on E&R] if they had to deliberate in an open meeting,” said SG President and fourth-year Michael McCown.

Three secondary amendments were added to address this concern, resulting in a compromise: While complaints will be made in open meetings, E&R deliberations will remain private.

Also, a description in the statement that all candidates must read and sign will give an overview of these changes to E&R rules, emphasizing that their complaints will now be public knowledge.

“We want to take into account that [the candidate is] just a kid and so maybe you don’t want this to be totally public,” McCown said.