Tuesday, January 13, 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 3
Plan calls for three new polling sites
Elections commission to consider voting location bill, resolution
By Melissa Ngo
Kansan staff writer
Problems surrounding the Daisy Hill polling site for Student Senate elections may be resolved at an Elections Commission meeting tonight.
The commission will consider the original Daisy Hill bill and a compromise resolution.
The original bill would have changed Student Senate rules and regulations mandating that the commission set up a polling site outside Ekdahl Dining Commons. If the bill passes, Daisy Hill will have a site during April's Student Senate elections.
The resolution is nonbinding, which means it is only a recommendation to the commission. It calls for sites at Ekdahl, Oliver Hall and Gertrude Sellards Pearson-Corbin Hall cafeterias. If this year's commission accepts the resolution, it would not affect 1999 elections because such decisions only are valid for one year.
Kaiser said he thought the resolution would be more acceptable because it resolved some of the technical issues that had been debated about the bill.
The compromise was reached in December when Seth Hoffman, All-Scholarship Hall Council senator; Scott Kaiser, transportation coordinator; and members of the Association of University Residence Halls met.
Hoffman, the author of the original bill, has been working on the compromise since September. Kaiser consistently has opposed the bill.
"The original bill went against a Senate rule which says that the Elections Commission will make any and all decisions regarding polling sites," he said. "This compromise gets around the sticking points by making recommendations to the commission, not telling it what to do."
Kaiser said it was important that Senate not try to force the commission into any decision because it might lead to political manipulation.
"What if Senate got enough votes to decide that there would be only one polling site and it'd be at GSP? That would be ludicrous." he said.
The resolution and original bill also will be debated at Senate committee meetings tomorrow.
The original bill caused heated debate at last semester's final Senate meeting, but Hoffman said he didn't foresee such debate at tomorrow's meeting.
First snow of semester greets students
"People have had time to evaluate the legislation. Hopefully, they'll put all the prejudices against the legislation behind them and look at it for what it is — a way to include more people in the legislative process," he said.
Tonight's decisions about polling sites and other election issues will be a first draft. Brad Finkeldei, elections commissioner, said the commission would decide on a final draft in a few weeks after getting feedback from students and faculty.
Crews prevent major problems by acting early
By Emily C. Forsyth
Kansan staff writer
Despite the blanket of ice that covered the city yesterday morning, the first day of school proceeded with only a few minor setbacks.
Robert Porter, associate director of Facilities Operations, said his office called crews in at 5:15 a.m. instead of the regular time of 7:30 a.m. to begin distributing sand and salt on the campus roads and sidewalks.
Scott Kaiser, transportation coordinator for KU on Wheels, said the roads were cleared on time and continuing snowfall did not detain yesterday's bus schedule from running smoothly.
"As far as on campus, Facilities Operations does a great job of clearing the roads," Kaiser said. "Buses rarely have,problems stopping or maneuvering."
Kaiser said the most frequent problem caused by inclement weather is a delay in the bus schedule.
"Because the bus drivers are driving slower, it sometimes makes the routes late," Kaiser said.
Other students who drove to campus experienced some difficulty on the ice.
Charlie Parekh, Leawood graduate student, drove on K-10 highway early yesterday to go through late enrollment.
"K-10 wasn't that bad, but it was definitely icv." Parekh said.
Sgt. Chris Keary of the KU Police Department said one minor accident occurred around 9 a.m. because of the weather.
The plows were out in force to handle the snow and ice that blanketed the campus. This plow cleared the sidewalks between Budig and Marvin Hall yesterday. Photo by Geoff Krieger/Kansas.
The accident occurred behind the Spencer Museum of Art when the driver, who was turning into lot 91, slid into a car that was parallel parked in the lot, causing the car to slide into a second parked car.
Keary said the chance for accidents could be decreased by taking a few precautionary measures.
"The key is to leave early," he said.
Getting an early start allows drivers to slow down, to put a reactionary distance beween themselves and the car in front of them and to travel a different route with
fewer hills if possible, Keary said. He also advised drivers to properly warm up their cars and remove ice from all window surfaces.
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