The GUSA Assembly is likely to vote on sweeping reforms to the Student Association’s election bylaws in the coming weeks.

Junior representative Drew Rau (COL ’06), chair of the committee of assembly members and election commission members developing the reform proposal, said that the committee is dedicated to meeting its self-imposed deadline of submitting the proposals before Thanksgiving.

Many had expected that a proposal would be submitted to the assembly at tonight’s meeting. The committee, however, is still deliberating and has not yet finalized its proposed changes.

“We were planning on presenting them [today], but a barrage of last-minute input from the Election Commission necessitated more time,” Rau said.

Changes to election bylaws have been highly anticipated since the contested executive election last spring. That dispute raised questions about the viability of GUSA’s exhaustive election bylaws. Many have argued that the current bylaws are arcane and confusing and make future electoral disputes inevitable.

According to sophomore representative Pravin Rajan (SFS ’07), who sits on the committee, the proposal will reduce the bylaws from their current six pages to one page of rules that are easy to understand.

While the proposal has yet to be finalized, Rajan said that the new bylaws will have “very little ambiguity in them.”

Specifically, Rajan said that the new bylaws will extend the election period to three weeks. It is the hope of the committee to create laws which allow for an election in which candidates talk to and engage students, and hear their ideas, he said.

Assembly members are not discouraged by the postponement of the proposal and express confidence that the new bylaws will be approved and implemented in time for the next GUSA elections in February.