Senators who served on this year’s Associated Student Government Election Commission affirmed their committee’s objectiveness in election dealings following allegations of wrongdoing.
These comments came in response to accusations made by outgoing executive vice president Bryan Tolles, who accused John Hughes, an Election Commission deputy, of giving preferential treatment to Alex Lurie, the new student services vice president, during his campaign. Tolles said Wednesday that Hughes approved a 50 percent discount Lurie received on fliers and did not tell the election commissioner because Hughes was working on Lurie’s campaign.
But Weinberg junior Adam Forsyth, the election commissioner, said the discount was permissible within election guidelines.
No one on the Election Commission, including Hughes, gave preferential treatment to any candidates, nor did members of the body come out in public support of anyone, Forsyth said. The alleged candidate affiliations are rumors, he added.
“That (Hughes) supports Alex Lurie is very silly,” Forsyth said. “(Hughes) never said anything like that in the commission, and he’s my friend, so I’m sure if he was openly supporting Alex Lurie he would’ve told me — and he didn’t.”
Lurie, a Communication sophomore, said Wednesday that no one on the Election Commission worked on his campaign.
Hughes — a board member of Students Publishing Co., which oversees The Daily, and a former Daily forum editor — denied any participation in Lurie’s election bid.
“I was in no way involved in Alex Lurie’s campaign,” Hughes said.
Concern over campaigning impropriety led Tolles to suggest having an independent Election Commission made up of students unaffiliated with ASG. Some Election Commission members said they would support having non-senators on the committee simply to eliminate a perceived bias, but they emphasized the need for at least some participants to have ASG experience.
Six commission members interviewed said that although there may have been rumors of bias, their committee did not give preferential treatment to any candidates this year.
“I did not see any bias from any of the commission members toward any of the candidates,” said Jim Lovsin, an off-campus senator and commission member. “No members gave any preferential treatment to any candidate in any way.”
Gabe Matlin, a Phi Mu Alpha and Sigma Alpha Iota senator who served on the commission, said members discussed appropriate behavior at the group’s first meeting.
“We all knew that we all had opinions and that we all could like one candidate or another candidate so the rule we came up with is you can have personal conversations with people, but you can’t do anything public with any candidate,” said Matlin, a McCormick senior.
Some commission members said diversifying the Election Commission to include non-ASG members could help prevent a perceived bias. Although non-ASG students can serve on the commission, Forsyth said, no one expressed an interest to him this year.
David Ely, a For Members Only senator who served as an alternate on the commission, said he would support having non-senators involved.
“I think a good idea would possibly be for it to be half and half,” said Ely, a Weinberg junior. “(Senate members with) a little bit of knowledge would probably be something nice to have during the whole process and, at the same time, an outsider’s view could be seen as all the more objective.”
Lovsin, a McCormick junior, said that at least some senators should serve on the commission because they are more familiar with ASG guidelines.
“I think it’s possible for a conflict of interest to arise because we do know the candidates, but the guidelines are written by Senate and I think people involved in Senate are aware of them and can better execute those guidelines,” Lovsin said.
Jill Sager, the Hillel Cultural Life senator, said she agrees that no members violated the set guidelines. She said she thinks, however, that Election Commission members should refrain from discussing candidates because it can lead to a perceived bias.
“While I don’t think that there actually was any unfair bias or anything like that, I think that in a sense, perhaps even what is said to one’s friends can lead to rumors, so the less said the better,” said Sager, a Weinberg sophomore.
The rumors, Matlin said, lead some students to think ASG is hung up on internal politics instead of working to represent them.
Meredith Kesner, a former Election Commission member, said she resigned at Wednesday’s Senate meeting because she wanted to remind senators why elections were being held.
“I resigned off the commission because I thought the entire Senate — not just Alex Lurie, not just candidates with violations, but the entire Senate — needed to be reminded that we have elections because we are trying to find the best people to serve students,” said Kesner, a Medill senior and off-campus senator.
