By BRIAN TYNES

Staff Writer

Tech's Student Government Association discussed student voting and tried to resolve the issue of scantron abuse at its weekly meeting Tuesday night.

The SGAs of Grambling, Tech and the University of Louisiana-Monroe will host a student voter rally from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at T. H. Harris Auditorium on the campus of Grambling State University.

"Across the state, SGAs have registered over 10,000 students to vote," Lindsey Mencacci, SGA vice president and a junior biology major, said. "The next step is to ensure that our students are at the polls on Nov. 2 making educated decisions."

Representatives from the Fifth Congressional District will be in attendance to discuss their platforms and inform students on the issues surrounding the election.

The rally is open to the public and the first 100 Tech students with IDs will receive a free T-shirt. The SGA will provide transportation to and from the event and details will be sent to all Tech e-mail addresses along with a map to the auditorium.

Kristy Stephens, senior class president and a senior animal biology major, said people do not realize the impact their elected officials have.

"It's important to get involved in government because it will affect [voters] for the next few years of their lives," Stephens said. "They will hear what the candidates are representing and give a better idea of who they should vote for."

Among other issues discussed at the meeting, the SGA voted to resolve the lingering scantron abuse problem by changing the existing policy.

"We needed to figure out our policy to help out students. We don't want to run out [of scantrons] because it is one of our most used services," Brandon Davis, a College of Engineering and Science senator and a sophomore English major, said. "[Abusing scantron policy] is a crime against your fellow students. If we offer them and you take an entire stack, it's being completely inconsiderate. There is no need to stock up because you can come back later before your next test."

Scantrons will remain available in the SGA office but will be restricted to one per person per visit and a limitation will be placed on the number of scantrons available each day. More scantrons will be available during finals week.

Kimberly Ludwig, SGA president and a senior business management and entrepreneurship major, said she feels students will realize the err of their ways because of the problem's publicity and will be courteous to others now that they see the impact.

Ludwig said, "I think because we called attention to the issue it will alleviate a lot of the problem."

For more information about scantrons or the student voter rally, contact Mencacci at 257-4565.