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What to know about the Elections Commission
DARBY VANHOUTAN
@darbyvanhoutan
Caitlynn Salazar/KANSAN The elections commission, made up of four undergraduate students, is responsible for holding hearings for complaints made against coalitions.
During a Student Senate campaign season riddled with violation complaints and weekly hearings, the people responsible for monitoring and carrying out the elections have been busier than ever.
In comparison to last year when the Elections Commission saw no violation complaints, this year's commission has heard several violation complaints against each of the four coalitions running for Student Senate. So far during the campaign, there has been a total of nine complaints filed against coalitions that have resulted in hearings and one filed against the Redo Your U referendum.
The current commission is comprised of four individuals, all undergraduate students from varying backgrounds.
According to Student Senate Rules and Regulations, the commission has several main jobs: to advertise and promote the election, administer the election and ensure that the elections remain fair.
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Senior Garrett Farlow, who serves as current Elections Commission chair, said his role as leader of the commission has been one of mainly delegation and leadership.
"My role is mostly leading the commission
delegating responsibilities as we go, being the spokesperson and the guide for all the bumps along the way, and there's always bumps," he said.
Farlow described how his previous roles on Student Senate provided insight into things he does now on the other side of the process.
"When I look back on my time in Student Senate I realize that I was going against the grain. I was trying to fight it from within," Farlow said. "I decided that the role of the Elections Commission is really the accountability that the Student Senate needs and that's why I joined."
His previous roles on Student Senate include universityaffairsassociate senator as a freshman, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences senator as a sophomore and the first ROTC senator as a junior.
...the role of the Elections Commission is really the accountability that the Student Senate needs..."
Garrett Farlow Elections Commission chair
Jesse Burbank, a senior from Quinter, served as Elections Commission chair last year, a year in which not one complaint was heard by the Elections Commission.
"The contrast is pretty striking. Last year you had one coalition fielding candidates, one coalition did field presidential and vice presidential candidates," Burbank said. "It makes it much more competitive when there are dozens and dozens of people and lots of different ideas out there competing for attention. This year there's no shortage of that."
Freshman Tyler Heinen is another member of this year's commission, serving as Elections Commission Liaison chair. Heinen, who got on the commission fairly late in the game, said the position is supposed to be about communicating
rules to each of the four coalitions' liaisons.
Heinen said that one of the most important things he has gained as a member of the Elections Commission is "sticking to your mind and not being persuaded easily."
Heinen has many times been the only voting member present at hearings due to either other members being absent or because other commission members brought complaints forward and therefore had to recuse themselves as voting members. The other two members of the Elections Commission are seniors Taylor Austin and Harrison Baker.
However, it's not
only students on the commission who provide insight at these hearings and in the decision making process. Jane Tuttle, an advisor to Student Senate as a whole, serves as an advisor to the Elections Commission as well.
"My job is to give them perspective if they need it, which they often don't, and to ask questions like 'Who's not at the table' or 'What are we not thinking about,' 'Have you considered this,'" Tuttle said.
Tuttle, who is not a voting member on the commission, has been serving as an advisor to the Elections Commission both the past two years and off and on in years
prior, providing insight to each individual charged with keeping the elections fair and equitable.
Burbank himself summed up each job on as the commission as "a very unpopular position, a pretty thankless position, but a necessary position."
The commission will continue to monitor the elections until voting takes place on Wednesday and Thursday. After polls close, the Elections Commission is responsible for tallying votes and announcing a winner.
- Edited by Casey Brown