In preparation for the upcoming special election, Student Government Association appointed members to this year’s Election Commission.

The Election Commission is a body that forms guidelines for student elections. Members on the commission are appointed by the student body president each year, subject to senate approval.

Election commissioners this year are Julio Villa, Amrutha Dasyam, Michael Brown, Sierra Brown, Mackenzie Haas, and Chad Michaels.

This commission will also be responsible for creating guidelines for the general election in spring 2019.

Michael Brown, one of the new election commissioners, is currently a staff member at The Sunflower. Editorial policy at the newspaper bars Brown from future news writing.

Typically, the Election Commission is not formed until the spring semester, when general elections are held. But SGA needs a regulating body for the upcoming special election, which is the first of its kind in recent history.

The special election will fill underserved populaces senator seats — introduced this session by a constitutional amendment — as well as vacant freshman senator seats.

Only freshmen and those belonging to “underserved” populations, as defined by the university’s Strategic Enrollment Plan, will be eligible to vote in the special election.

A date for the election will be determined by the Election Commission.

Traditionally, vacant seats are filled by appointment. If all the freshman seats are not filled by the upcoming special election, Student Body President Kenon Brinkley said the association will fall back on traditional means.

Brinkley nominated eight candidates to the Election Commission. The Senate then held a hidden ballot vote, wherein the commissioners were selected.

The next Student Senate meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Wed., Oct. 17 in the Santa Fe Trail Room (RSC 233).