Election board spots still vacant

The Student Council Committee on Leadership is still reviewing the applications for the new Committee on Student Elections, which were due on Sunday, Oct. 9.

According to Council members, the Committee was to be appointed by Tuesday, Oct. 18; however, the member list has yet to be released.

The Committee was voted on by the student body last year in a referendum to replace the controversial Board of Elections.

In response to past criticism of the BOE, there will be significant changes in the organization of the new committee.

Instead of selecting a committee chair, COLA (Committee on Leadership Appointments) will appoint seven members of the committee who will later select their committee chair. They may also invite others to join the committee.

Jeffrey Groden-Thomas, Director of Student Involvement, said COLA is choosing the seven members instead of simply appointing a committee chair, in order to avoid having a "group of friends" comprise the Committee on Student Elections.

This was a criticized flaw in the Board of Elections that StuCo is attempting to avoid in the new committee.

"The more eclectic the group is, the better off they are," Groden-Thomas advises.

He adds that the committee chair must also "be able to move on with a new organization without being dragged down by past criticism."

One change will be the number of committee members, which was limited to seven in the Board of Elections.

Groden-Thomas said the Committee on Student Elections "will probably be larger than seven members, which will give the committee more resources."

Student Council President Atin Agarwal said the new committee will be more efficient than the Board of Elections, which was disconnected from StuCo and lacked accountability.

"If they did something wrong, they weren't responsible to anyone," said Agarwal.

To ensure accountability, the new committee involves Agarwal and Groden-Thomas, who will form a three-person Appeals Panel with the chairman of the committee.

After a complaint or protest is filed against a candidate, the Committee on Student Elections will review it and judge its merit.

The accused party will have the opportunity to present an appeal, which will be heard by the Appeals Panel. A majority of the Appeals Panel must then reach a consensus.

Students voted last year to disband the BOE and create a new Committee.

Reasons for this varied from student to student, but students, such as sophomore Erik Phillips, say that a change was necessary.

"They were very, very incompetent c9 Things weren't really run well last year," Phillips said. "One year a student who was running the voting booth wasn't there, and there was something running right next to the booth that was a distraction."

Phillips expressed the sentiment of dissatisfaction that students felt during last year's election, when the BOE was voted out.

"We were all just so disappointed and thought the elections were a load of crap."

"I feel like simply because the new committee is responsible to somebody, I have a general feeling that the referendum and the elections will be [run] better," Phillips said.

Sophomore Rachel Cylus echoed Phillips, stating that she expects good things from the new Committee.

"I think this group will make things run more smoothly and integrate StuCo and other student organizations into a more cohesive unit," said Cylus.

Former chairman of the Board of Elections, Michael Seibert, expressed frustration over the lack of StuCo involvement in past elections, since Council members have firsthand knowledge of the positions and thus could assist candidates.

Seibert said, "I guess the advantage [of the new committee] is that the Student Council might actually give some support to the candidates."

Though the committee is a branch of StuCo, it will retain some autonomy.

In order to avoid controversy among elected officials who could be running for office and other potential candidates, members of Student Council will be prohibited from sitting on the Committee of Student Elections.

Running elections "is a many part process," said COLA chairman Jake Koenig.

The committee must communicate well with both StuCo and the student body to ensure that the election process goes smoothly.

The Committee on Student Elections will educate candidates, form election timelines, create and amend bylaws and enforce University policies on candidate conduct.