ASUO Elections Board Coordinator MacGregor Ehlen is still working on getting five members for the board, but after Wednesday night’s ASUO Senate meeting, Ehlen has one less position to worry about. On Feb. 20, Alex Davis was confirmed by the senate to be the Elections Board Office Manager.
Davis was approved, but with some hesitation.
Senate’s concerns weren’t due to his qualifications, it was that Davis was a member of Ehlen’s fraternity, which would mean that three of the currently four filled positions would have board members from the same fraternity.
“He’s in my fraternity. I know that sounds bad, but by no way does this mean we have an agenda,” Ehlen said. “He was the only applicant for this position.”
Ehlen, Spainhower and Davis are a part of Phi Delta Theta. During Davis’ confirmation, Ehlen said, “None of our fraternity brothers are running [in the election]. I can guarantee that.”
The senate had the same hesitance during the body’s Feb. 2 meeting where Drew Spainhower was approved for the Elections Board Education Coordinator. Spainhower is also Ehlen’s fraternity brother.
“When we approved Spainhower I was fine with Spainhower and Ehlen being from the same fraternity,” Sen. Taylor Allison said during Wednesday’s meeting. “Now, I do however kind of have an issue that more than half of the board is coming from the same organization. It seems to me that there is a very large conflict of interest happening.”
The majority of senate agreed with Allison’s sentiments, but time has become a critical factor for the Elections board. At the beginning of week 7, the Elections Board had its election rules approved by the ASUO Constitution Court. The election rules are typically approved during week 5.
“Those rules came out late, but I was appointed to the position in January and I should have been appointed in November,” Ehlen said when asked about the rules during the meeting.
Much like Ehlen’s two appointments had some concerns from the senate, Ehlen’s own appointment was delayed by the body due to his friendship with ASUO President Sam Dotters-Katz.
“The concern is there, but we have our hands tied with getting this board filled to its fullest in the time that we have,” Sen. Nick Hughes said to Ehlen during the meeting. “In the future, I would urge you seriously to strongly up your outreach so that there is a bigger pool of applicants to draw from, and we’re not left with having to choose just the one and only applicant.”
After Sen. Josh Losner called the motion to question, the Senate voted 11-6-0, making Davis the newest member of the Elections Board. After this appointment, the board still remains one member short.