Elliot Spillers Calls Keller Admission of Election Rule Breaking “Pretty Bold”

By Taylor Wray

In a phone conversation, Elliot Spillers called Vice President Elect of Student Affairs Stephen Keller’s admission of guilt in a election day flyer scandal, “pretty bold.”

“What he [whistle-blower Chris Allen] discovered and what Keller had admitted to, I was shocked. I mean, that’s pretty bold, you know to admit that out in the public,” Spillers said late Wednesday.

Keller won the election handily, gaining nearly 58 percent of the vote to Spillers’ 41 percent in an election that saw only 29 percent of the University of Alabama vote. WVUA-FM News reported early on the morning on March 12 that Keller had been physically passing out neon colored “Students for Experienced Leadership” flyers. Keller later admitted that he had not paid for the flyers and that they would not appear on his financial disclosure paperwork, a violation of SGA election rules. When the financial forms were publicly released days after the election, they were not clear enough to determine what Keller or any of the candidates had specifically purchased in terms of paper campaign materials. Spillers said that he filed a complaint and that the Elections Board acknowledged that they received it.

Spillers also said in the conversation, “if justice should have it then he would get disqualified.” The SGA elections manual says that, “Any candidate failing to file any report of campaign expenditures or contributions required by this Election Code or exceeding the limit on campaign expenditures set in this Election Manual shall be disqualified.”

The Elections Board convener, Kelli Knox-Hall said in an emailed statement, “it would be premature to comment at this time on any investigation.”

Click to listen to Spillers’ full comments: