The Undergraduate Student Government senate approved senate bill 145-10 in a 10-2 decision on Tuesday to make several changes to USG’s Elections Code. 

The bill includes changes such as creating a new appeal process for judicial decisions, modifying the intent to run form and allowing candidates to display physical campaign materials on private property with the permission of the property owner.

Chief justice Ryan Tung said in an interview with the Daily Trojan after Tuesday’s meeting that he and the rest of the judicial council, who co-authored the bill, wanted to make three main changes to the elections code, which is amended every year.

“Our first priority is election integrity,” Tung said. “We are also thinking about voter turnout and adding and removing provisions that still maintain integrity, but also allow candidates a little bit of freedom to campaign to students … Our last priority is cutting down redundancy. It’s a long document and we want candidates to be able to read it and understand it.”

Senator Moy Valdez, who voted against the bill alongside senator Zehran Muqtadir, said he was concerned about campaigning on private property and the fairness of remote polling stations. 

“It would be better if everyone had a fair place to campaign with at USC grounds,” Valdez said. “It’s not necessarily a matter of controlling. It’s more so a matter of getting an equal playing field.”

In discussion on the bill, senator Sabeeh Mirza said that USG can’t endorse people to use private property and that it wouldn’t be properly regulated.

The bill also added additional regulations on public support by USG officers including their ability to endorse campaigns.

Valdez said that the change would keep USG unbiased. He said if USG didn’t interfere with future campaigns, it would maintain a public perception as an unbiased organization. 

“If the last couple years have taught us anything, I think we need to be a little more cautious and careful with how we use our biases as USG officers and how that can affect the public interpretation of USG,” Valdez said.

Senator Zach Garcia, who was appointed in the September special election, said guaranteeing special election candidates a senatorial forum during election week, a change implemented by SB 145-10, would allow future candidates to share their platform in front of a larger audience on campus. 

“It was frustrating putting my voice out there sometimes [while campaigning], given the limitations,” Garcia said. “This definitely brings an opportunity for us to share our voice, share our platform, more than just a social media platform.”

Tung said that the change would still allow an open-door policy for candidates and would make the process of running less intimidating. 

“It’s very intimidating to go into a campaign not knowing what USG is, what a campaign is,” Tung said during the meeting. “Making USG officers a resource and providing institutional knowledge is really valuable.”

USG also heard presentations from chief programming officer Ali Edmonds, chief of staff Karen Borglund and chief communications officer Emily Chang on Tuesday night. 

In her presentation, Edmonds talked about her work on creating a guidebook for senate aides and creating a transition guide aides can use as a reference for future aide projects.

Borglund said in her presentation that she has welcomed four new officers to USG. She also reflected on her goals for November, which include making a roster of all USG officers more accessible and a role directory that’s more accessible to undergraduate students. 

During the meeting, Chang said that the USG Instagram account gained roughly 1,000 new followers since the semester started.