The Undergraduate Student Government Tuesday night approved changes to the USG Apportionment and Elections Code Act, which slightly alters the way the 2001 USG elections will be conducted.

"I think the process is running really smoothly. I've really had the chance to get things in order," said David Britz, USG elections commissioner.

Issues discussed in previous senate meetings led to the addition of several amendments to the final Elections Code draft. The most notable change was the rearrangement of the candidates' names on ballots.

Some senators expressed concerns with the way that names of the candidates would be placed on the ballots.

Trends with the number of votes for a particular candidate and the placement of that person's name on the ballot seem to be related, said Mike Fedor, USG town senator. The higher up a person's name was on the ballot, the greater the number of votes that person received, Fedor said.

Different ways to place candidate names on the ballots have been discussed in past meetings.

Alphabetical order, computer randomization and a first come, first serve basis were possibilities for ordering the ballots were discussed.

"We realized that there were too many other problems with those ideas," Fedor said.

The way the candidates' names will be listed this year will be according to a lottery with names drawn from a box. The difference this year from previous years is that certain witnesses will be needed from different organizations as well as the public to oversee the name selection process.

"This was a subject that we have worked really hard on," said Lauren Applegate, Nittany-Pollock senator. "I think overall, we picked the fairest way possible."

A member from each of the following groups will need to be present: Association of Residence Halls Students, University Park Allocation Committee, a USG senator, the USG president or vice president and a member of the local press.

The witnesses cannot be any of the candidates running in the current elections. The members will make sure the box is initially empty, and, at the end, that all the names have been chosen, so that all of the candidates have been given a fair chance.

The code also changed some voting locations. Because of low voter turnout in the fraternity polling stations, there will not be a station within a fraternity house.

There will be four stations in the HUB-Robeson Center. The Student Book Store, 330 E. College Ave., will remain a polling station. A Pattee and Paterno Libraries station has been added to accommodate the northern end of campus.

There was discussion of multiple voting days. The final decision, however, was to have one day with voting at polling stations and online.

"I think we're going to end up with the same amount of voters in one day as we would in three," Applegate said.

The code also addresses fraudulent voting. If a person votes more than once, both votes will be eliminated.

The next step will be for the legislation to go to the USG Supreme Court for final approval.

Britz, USG President Matt Roan, and Kelly O'Brien, USG vice president, are also in the process of appointing election commissioners.

"Hopefully, the new commissioners will go before senate next week," Britz added.

Being appointed before winter break has given him a chance to get a feel for the job, Britz said.

"We're doing things a lot earlier than in the past and it's making things go smoother," Roan said.