The proposal from ASWSU President Kyle Geiger to appoint four more members to the election board committee was taken off the agenda just prior to Wednesday’s Senate meeting.

Geiger said he wanted to appoint four more people to the election board before ASWSU senatorial and presidential elections began. There are currently three members on the election board committee.

The election board committee spoke with Geiger on Tuesday to express its lack of support for the appointment of new members one week before elections take place, said Zachary Anders, election board chair.

“The week of the election we felt was vastly inappropriate,” Anders said of the timing.

Geiger did not include the committee in the decision or conversation of appointing new members, Anders said.

Anders also said Geiger told the committee he was considering electing new members via email, which the committee opposed, but Anders said the committee did not hear anything back from Geiger regarding their concerns.

He said they found out Tuesday the appointments were intended to proceed after seeing it on the meeting agenda.

Geiger announced his intention to appoint new members to the election board during the weekly Senate meeting on Feb. 24, almost a week before Anders said the election board was officially notified.

“There’s only three members on the board right now, when there can be up to seven,” Geiger said.

ASWSU bylaws state the president must hold an open and publicized application process before new committee members can be selected. As of Wednesday, no notification was posted to the ASWSU Facebook page after Geiger’s initial announcement of intent to appoint new members, which is where Anders said such notification would normally be displayed.

“I was not opposed to getting new members, I was opposed to the timing of getting new members,” Anders said.

Agenda items

The Senate unanimously supported the partial funding of three different proposals during Wednesdays senate meeting. The amount of total funding given is $6,300.

An event celebrating North-Indian culture, Vaisakhi Night, was given $2,600 to help pay for the cost of the venue The event will be held on April 16 in Beasley Coliseum, starting at 5:30 p.m. and ending at 11 p.m.

A Mitamitaga O Samoa festival was funded $1,700 toward traditional Samoa food. The festival will be April 8 during mom’s weekend at 7 p.m. at the SEL Event Center.

The WSU CrossFit Club received $2,000 for two new Airdyne bikes. Representatives of the club said the two bikes will meet the growing demands of the club and replace an older, outdated model.

UPDATE: ASWSU Vice President Samantha Kieling said posting position opening to the ASWSU Facebook page is not the norm, but that it has been done before. She also said the election board member openings have been posted on OrgSync since October.

Additional reporting by Hannah Street