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ASG election reforms allow for better campaigns

Associated Student Government's (ASG) recent passage of election reform will be beneficial for the future of the organization. Beyond technical changes to the times when campaign signs can be placed around campus, the most important reforms allow for political parties and new, larger caps on campaign spending. Previously, candidates for ASG offices could only spend up to $500 for their campaign. That limit has now been enlarged to $1,000 for primary campaigns, with an additional $500 allowance in the general election is needed. The editorial board of The Miami Student believes this increased spending limit will not only be extremely beneficial to those running for office, but will also help candidates increase awareness of ASG elections and spur increased levels of involvement amongst the student body.

As some will no doubt be concerned that this spending increase will become an artificial filter on the election-preventing those with less cash resources from participating in the top levels of student government-this board feels that concerns over student awareness and increasing the quality of those running for office trump these doubts. Several arguments support this: first, student government and its supporting university system is small enough that the increase in funds will not create too large of disparities in campaigning. This can be attributed to fundamental similarities between campaigns in Miami's system-campus is simply not large enough where visibility will dramatically drop off, and other forms of free advertising (or at least network building) exist within the student body that could potentially negate an increased spending limit. Second, the ability of political parties to band candidates together (in the reform, four members of the same political party are allowed to combine their funds together to have a $6,000 spending limit that is divided up between the candidates and can be distributed unequally depending on need) allows dark horse candidates to bolster their support. Third, we must applaud ASG for having increased the amount of students participating in their organization. While years ago, there were numerous empty seats for varying positions, the current number of participants in ASG mean that it is time to start looking for quality over quantity in candidates.

With salaried positions, important institutional powers and influence resting upon these elections, the increased spending limits are the best way for candidates to promote their records, their image and connect to potential student voters. More opportunities for student-candidate interaction can only be beneficial to a student government that is recovering from a crisis of legitimacy. The question to ask ourselves is: wouldn't it be better for candidates to use larger financial allotments to vet themselves in front of the student body? The extra hundreds of dollars (possibly thousands, when factoring in political parties) could go a long way in getting candidates to move beyond messages of, "vote for me!" and toward campaigns that look to ASG issues and records of incumbents looking to increase their executive standing.

Furthermore, the increased spending limit can help weed out non-serious candidates who will soon be faced with the question of how much their campaign actually means to them. Even those candidates who believe in their campaign-but do not have the funds to match top-tier candidates-may be motivated to try even harder in order to get elected. Additionally, we may see a boost in candidate seriousness; after all, if someone goes "all-in" with his or her campaign funds, they would most likely hope for a positive return from that investment.

This board believes that ASG is taking the step in the right direction with these election reforms. We look toward the next round of candidates to see how they can best use these changes to their benefit, and how the new role of political parties will play out. It is our dearest hope that these potential groupings of candidates, with the added benefits of financial partnership, will help ASG executives work better together and increase their working efficiencies. It is important, if fearing the takeover of financially strong candidates, to actually see how the campaign season unfolds and how students feel after being confronted with more knowledge and awareness of ASG's next potential leaders.