MSA confirms new BEC chair

The new BEC chairwoman wants to hold more debates than last year.

By Gwen Daniels

Published Aug. 31, 2007

The Missouri Students Association Senate confirmed sophomore Amanda Morlock as the new chairwoman of the Board of Elections Commissioners at its meeting on Wednesday.

The BEC regulates MSA elections and develops rules and regulations for debates, advertisements and campaign budgets. Morlock will head the BEC with two other executives.

Student Court Judiciary member Drew Webber nominated Morlock for the position. Morlock, a sophomore psychology and sociology double major, comes to the BEC from the Judiciary Peer Advisory Council. The council works with the Office of Judicial Services to review codes of conduct and periodically tries students for various conduct violations.

Morlock plans to combat the contention that tainted last year's MSA elections when Sameera Ali and Kelley Robinson were eliminated from the presidential race after incurring fines for alleged obstruction of other candidates' campaign material.

"There was a lot of controversy with last year's presidential election, so I'm looking into what caused those problems in order to prevent them," she said.

Morlock will update the election handbook, which is rewritten yearly by the chairperson, to alleviate the problems.

She said she wants to hold more debates than last year.

"Personally, last year I wasn't well-informed," she said. "I didn't vote because I didn't feel like I had enough information on each candidate."

Morlock will also address strict campaign budget restraints.

Several students have already questioned her about the spending restrictions, she said.

MSA Senate Speaker Jonathan Mays met with Morlock last week to discuss the position. He said he is confident in her ability to lead BEC.

"My immediate first impression was that she is extremely focused and dedicated," he said. "It's a good sign when someone comes in at eight in the morning to learn about her approval in the next week."