Sean Haynes and Phyllis Williams appointed to BEC

The three-member commission is preparing for Monday's referendum.

By Amanda Wysocki

Published Feb. 5, 2009

The final two spots on the Board of Elections Commissioners executive board were filled at Tuesday night's Missouri Students Association Operations Committee meeting.

MSA Senator Phyllis Williams is the pick to represent the legislative branch, while MSA Senator Sean Haynes will represent the judicial branch.

Williams' appointment was first brought up at last week's Operations Committee meeting, but was delayed after Chief Justice Jonathan Sandhu made allegations concerning her work ethic and time commitments. Williams and Sandhu had previously worked together on the Judicial Peer Advisory Council.

Sandhu alleged that Williams was asked to resign from JPAC due to frequently missing meetings.

"I just wanted to let everyone know about this," Sandhu said. "I didn't think it would delay her appointment for an entire week."

Williams had been unaware of any of the allegations that had been raised against her.

"I was just surprised," Williams said. "It was disappointing because I had a pleasant experience while there. It's not something that I wanted the first time hearing about it when I left the room."

At the previous meeting, Sandhu said he had e-mails on hand concerning Williams and JPAC, but was unable to find them at that point in time.

"In retrospect, that would have made everything a lot more time efficient," Sandhu said.

Williams said the whole experience showed the problems with the confirmation process.

"It is a tenet of our judicial system to have opportunities of contention," Williams said. "A person should have the opportunity to contest accusations, which is not in our Senate bylaws."

Now that Williams has been confirmed, she is ready to get to work on the upcoming referendum.

"I try to have the same goal as every BEC," Williams said. "We want to provide good electioneering services and make sure it is an accessible experience. We want to have a convenient way to provide students the chance to vote."

Haynes was also approved at Tuesday's meeting, albeit with far less objections.

He first approached MSA Senate Speaker Jonathan Mays about a spot on the BEC, but Mays already planned to appoint Williams. Mays then referred Haynes to Sandhu.

Haynes had a key role in updating the BEC handbook, so he felt like that was a good start for a position on the committee, he said.

"That was the place we needed to start to make this election go a lot better," Haynes said.

Haynes lives with former BEC Chairman Justin Mohn and has been exposed to the goings-on of the commission, Sandhu said.

"He is very calm," Sandhu said. "He knows the handbook from last year and this year. He knows exactly what to expect in the BEC and knows the ins and outs of it."

Haynes hopes this BEC can help the upcoming Senate election go more smoothly than in years past.

"My goals are to run the election and the referendum on the designated start and end times, and to have everybody in the election have no complaints with the BEC," Haynes said.

Both nominees must still be approved by the full Senate, though the full BEC has already begun work on Monday's referendum.