Contrary to the manner in which I was portrayed in The State News article “Student elections postponed” (SN 3/14), I appreciate the work and time the All University Election Commission has dedicated to elections.

But I do not appreciate the idea that the blame for the elections mess has been placed on the commission. Because of the bureaucracy we call ASMSU, the members of the commission have been pegged as nitpicky Madisonians who have no regard for the sanctity of the elections process.

I personally applaud their independence, their nitpickiness and the fact they do not heed every piece of advice offered to them by ASMSU leadership.

Through this nitpickiness and independence, we can be assured the election process will be fair.

Likewise, ASMSU has finally reached outside of its organization to form an elections commission. Contrary to years past, ASMSU leadership strove to form a commission that could be independent of the ASMSU realm. We did this with the idea of having a commission that could give an outside prospective on the elections process.

In essence, this commission has placed a magnifying glass on our organization, thus enabling us to re-evaluate both the nature and importance of our elections. We could not have achieved this without an independent elections commission.

Matt Clayson
ASMSU Academic Assembly chairperson