ASLC senate breaks election tie, elects Quinn Vinlove

By Mackenzie Herring

While the results of the 2017 senatorial election brought closure for most candidates, two were still eagerly awaiting a final vote.

On Sept. 26, ASLC announced a tie for the final senate seat between Quinn Vinlove ’21 and Matt Stevenson ’20. Prior to the fall of 2017, seats were reserved for each graduation year, whereas now there are ten seats to be filled by LC students.

ASLC Vice President Zack Johnson ’19 spoke briefly about how the tie would be dealt with based on the new structure.

“Myself and Chief Justice (Natalie Souders ’19) wrote a piece of legislation that changed it from 12 senators with 3 per class, to ten from the whole student body,” Johnson said. With this legislation, any open seat must be filled by a vote in the senate.

Johnson began the first meeting by addressing the tie for the tenth seat. The first order of business was to confirm the members of the senate so the vote for the final member could be conducted properly.

Vinlove and Stevenson left the room as the senate prepared to debate and then cast their vote.

As Stevenson was a senator last year, the discussion centered around his contributions to ASLC. According to Hannah Posey-Scholl ’20, who had participated in ASLC during the 2017 spring semester as a guest, Stevenson was mostly absent due to a family emergency and when present was not very participative.

During the debate, ​Posey-Scholl asked the cabinet about any perceived improvement.

“I think I heard him speak much more than I’ve seen him speak before,” Student Organizations Coordinator Alden Chatfield ’19 answered. “He does seem much more confident in being a senator.”

Senator Feona Rehfuss ’19 questioned Vinlove’s experience at LC.

“I feel like Quinn is in a fiery passion of freshman fury … but he doesn’t know L&C like a sophomore would,” Rehfuss said.

After the debate, Johnson called the room to order and initiated the voting. The first round of voting among the already appointed senators and the club representatives ended in another tie. This led to a vote among the present members of the Cabinet. The Cabinet’s decision came to another tie.

Before the first round of voting, both candidates made claims and defended their place on the senate.

In accordance with ASLC’s governing documents, the vice president would cast the tie-breaking vote.

Johnson voted for Vinlove.

Vinlove commented on the difficulty of the situation, focusing on the direct comparison between him and Stevenson.

“I want people to come out and support me and my message,” Vinlove said. He was discontent with the debate being centered around comparing each candidate’s flaws and not the merit in their visions for ASLC.

The remainder of the meeting focused on the details of ASLC’s governing documents and the expectations of each senator. After the tie was addressed, all of the senators had been confirmed and the formalities were dealt with, Johnson ended the meeting with a pound of the gavel and one final wish: “Please no one get the flu, she’s already on her way.”