A proposed amendment to the Union constitution allowing students studying abroad to vote in Union elections led to arguments regarding how the legislation was drafted.Union President Joshua Brandfon '05 said the authors of the amendment, Union Treasurer Andrei Khots '05 and Financial Board Chair Mark Schlangel '05, did not consider student and Union input throughout the research process.

Schlangel and Khots, however, said they took all of the necessary steps and did not require detailed input from students and the Union.

While the two parties reached a compromise last Friday, Khots and Schlangel's version of the amendment will not go forward until it recieves the appropriate signatures to get on the ballot.

For an amendment to be on the ballot, it must obtain signatures from either 15 percent of the student body or ten members of the Union

The idea for the amendment was brought about due to last year's presidential election, in which Brandon defeated Josh Sugarman '05 by one vote with students abroad not being allowed to cast a ballot.

Former Union President Ben Brandzel '03 claimed in a Union Judiciary case that since students studying abroad would have made a difference in the election, the elction should be rerun with them being allowed to vote. But the UJ ruled that since students do not pay the Student Activities Fee (SAF), they are not members of the union and thus are not eligible to vote.

Now that students studying abroad pay regular Brandeis tuition-though still no SAF-Schlangel and Khots said they decided to draft an amendment to allow registered students to vote..

Khots and Schlangel said they only received eight Senate signatures because Brandfon and Union Vice President Kenneth Gantz '04 asked senators not to sign the amendment until further discussion.

"I was worried that senators were just going to sign it and it was going to be on the ballot and no other Union members were going to have read it or other club leaders were going to have seen it," Brandfon said.

Khots said he and Schlangel met with the necessary administrators to ensure the amendment's language classifying the eligibility to vote for students abroad was correct.

Schlangel and Khots said their intent was not to subvert anyone, but rather to create the amendment in the most efficient manner.

"We didn't want senators to say, 'oh, we'll help you with that.'" Schlangel said. "No need. Our main goal here is to get students abroad to vote. We obviously put a lot of work into it."

Khots and Schlangel had their amendment certified Jan. 30 by Union Secretary Danny Silverman '05. According to Brandfon, then was the first time he learned about the amendment. He said he wanted to know why it had not been brought to his attention.

Brandfon said Khots told him, "don't worry about it. You'll find out everything you need to know [at the Feb. 1 Senate meeting]."

Khots told the Justice that while he understands why Brandfon may have been frustrated for not knowing about the amendment, it was impossible to explain the details to him at that time.

"... I felt that it would have been better and more organized for Mark and I to present a clear explanation of the amendment as well as all the logistics such as publicity for the amendment at the Senate meeting to answer the numerous questions and propositions that Josh had thrown at me on that day," Schlangel said.

Brandfon said he was happy that Khots and Schlangel had drafted the amendment, but he said he asked if they would be willing to wait to present it until after the recent Union elections had finished.

"[The Union] wanted to educate the people, which I agree with," Schlangel said. "However, this is a very clear-cut thing; it's not very debatable. Everybody wants students abroad to vote."

In his State of the Union address, Brandfon said he planned to create new voting amendments-including one allowing students studying abroad to vote. Yet Brandfon said the timing of proposing such amendments was difficult because the Union had been occupied with recent elections.

Brandfon said he had to rush to get his amendments organized so they could all appear on the same ballot and have a better voter turnout.

"That was like almost an emergency in the middle of the elections cycle, and I sent that out which I would have preferred not to do," Brandfon said regarding a press release he posted on the Union Web site after the Khots and Schlangel amendment was certified.

Khots and Schlangel said the reason they did not compromise then was because Brandfon had not yet drafted his amendments.

Both also said they were "surprised" Brandfon sent out the press release after their amendment had just been certified.

According to Khots and Schlangel, Brandfon and Gantz told Senators not to apply their names on the amendment.

"Ken went around the room, as the vice president, to a lot of senators and told them not to vote for this amendment," Khots said. "At that time, we had eight signatures and just needed two more."

Brandfon admitted that he and Gantz asked senators no to sign the amendment until after the meeting,

"There was no vote tampering," Brandfon said. "It was a request that Ken and I asked. We asked if you can please wait until after the meeting to see if you want to sign it."

Brandfon said many senators did not realize their signatures were being sought in lieu of those from the student body and it was important they get an opportunity to discuss the amendment.

Schlangel said he was accused of being "sketchy" by Gantz because he and Khots did not remind senators that their signatures were in lieu of 15 percent of the student body.

"But I don't think that's our responsibility because as senators, they should know what their signature means," Schlangel said.

Executive Senator Erica Lemansky '05 said Brandfon asked her not to sign the amendment, but that she made her own decision not to sign until there is further discussion.

East Quad Senator Joanna Roberts said she signed the amendment five minutes before the Feb. 1 Senate meeting and that Khots was vague in his description of it.

"It sounded like a good amendment," Roberts said.

Roberts said since this is her first year as a senator and she did not realize her endorsement was in lei of a large portion of the student body.

"This was something Khots did not mention, " Roberts said.

Brandfon said he asked Khots if he would be willing to comprise again during the Feb. 1 Senate meeting and that he would help publicize the amendment so that everybody could work together to strengthen the constitution. With only eight Senate signatures, Khots and Schlangel said they decided to wait as long as the timeline was reasonable.

"We compromised and we said we want to get this through together," Schlangel said. "We will put this on the shelf until you get your forms together and we can educate together."

Schlangel and Khots said they understood this would create a larger voter turnout and their amendment re-certified after meeting with Brandfon last Friday and taking some of his suggestions.

"They are moving ahead quickly with their ballot reformation," Schlangel said. "They have proposed a decent timeline for completing their project and we plan on having the separate amendments on the same ballot.