Student Sen. Evan Grosso, chair of the Senate’s Elections and Appointments Committee, discusses his bill before his colleagues on Oct. 8 in the Charge on Chamber. His legislation, which the Senate passed Thursday night unanimously, regulates how senators can change their votes on measures and ensures vote switching cannot happen privately.
Joshua-Paul Estabalaya
UCF’s Student Body Senate passed a bill Thursday night in the Charge on Chamber to regulate how senators change their votes after casting them, following an incident where vote switching altered a measure’s outcome.
Senators voted 47-to-0 to pass the legislation, with one abstaining. Before this bill was introduced, senators could vote on measures one way and privately request to have their votes changed after the fact.
Sen. Evan Grosso, chair of the Senate’s Elections and Appointments Committee, introduced the legislation, saying in an email to The Charge that his bill aims to “ensure we have clear and transparent communication with the student body.”
“The Senate livestream serves as a public record of our proceedings for every Senate meeting,” Grosso said. “It is my opinion that allowing vote changes after the fact reduces the integrity of the livestream as a method of transparency with the student body.”
Senators may still change their votes under Grosso’s bill. But if a senator wants to do so before the meeting’s chair announces the vote tally, the senator must state their desired change aloud. If a senator wants to change their vote after the chair announces the tally, their colleagues at the meeting must unanimously approve it.
Student Sens. Olivia Smith (left) and Anna Reed remain silent in the Charge on Chamber on Oct. 8 while their colleagues debate a bill to regulate Student Government vote switching. The two had switched their votes on a measure to create a student well-being caucus, an incident that the bill’s author cited as an example of the legislation’s importance.
Joshua-Paul Estabalaya
According to prior reporting by The Charge, senators on Sept. 24 voted 23-to-19 to adopt two resolutions that would’ve created a Student Government caucus focused on student well-being. But two senators — Anna Reed and Olivia Smith — switched their votes against the legislation after the Senate had adjourned, causing the vote tally to be evenly split and nixing the resolutions.
Grosso, junior biomedical sciences and mathematics major, said in his email that the incident was an example of why his legislation was necessary.
In an email Tuesday, The Charge requested comment from Reed and Smith concerning Grosso’s legislation. Neither has responded.
Sen. Caleb Berrios, chair of the Sustainability Caucus, proposed the two resolutions that failed because of the vote switching. He said Grosso’s bill will better hold Student Government agents to account.
“It’s just for consistency and making sure things like that do not happen,” Berrios, sophomore biology major, said.