It started five minutes late with a frustrated phone call.
The electoral commission waited, ready to hear debate on the possible bias of a Facebook event and the use of teen heart throb Zac Efron's face to promote the CONNECT Party.
"Just reminding you that we have an electoral commission meeting at 9:45 tonight," said Kristen Koch, a first-year law student and electoral commissioner in this year's Association of Students of the University of Nebraska student government race at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
She was leaving a voice mail for Erik Mellgren, a junior biology major and presidential candidate for the CONCRETE Party. His running mate, Hannah Ledford, a junior international studies major and internal vice presidential candidate for CONCRETE, filed two complaints against the CONNECT Party on Monday.
Ledford contended in her paperwork that a Facebook event created by Matt Kelly, a junior biochemistry major running for senate for the College of Arts and Sciences with CONNECT, created bias because the event, "ASUN Elections: Vote CONNECT!" listed ASUN as its host, debatably implying the organization was endorsing the CONNECT Party, whose logo is the event photo.
Ledford also accused CONNECT of breaking copyright law and the election code of ethics for displaying a photo depicting a Zac Efron poster wearing a CONNECT T-shirt on its Facebook group page.
"CONNECT has a picture on their Facebook group claiming that Zac Efron supports them. Unless they have proof of that, they're lying, which is in violation of the code of ethics we all signed," her complaint read.
The complaints prompted a hastily organized late-night electoral commission meeting following the last election debate, but neither Mellgren nor Ledford showed up to the meeting.
"On my watch it is 9:50," Koch continued on the voice mail. "We will give you until 9:55 to get here and then we will start the meeting -ah!- he just sent me a text message."
The text from Mellgren, sent at about 9:51, said the party withdrew both complaints.
Those present collectively groaned, mumbling comments of impatience with the situation and wondering aloud if withdrawal via text message is legitimate. Commission members paged through election rules and found nothing addressing such an instance.
Koch called the meeting to order since the text arrived after the scheduled start. In short time the commission voted to hear the complaints, despite CONCRETE's absence.
Emily Zimmer, a senior political science major and president of ASUN, said the event didn't express ASUN endorsed CONNECT, it simply noted that ASUN is the host of the election, and any party could make a similar group.
Evan Egger, a junior history and economics major running for senate in the College of Arts and Sciences with the Party of Hope and Change, said his party has a similar group listing ASUN as host.
The commission found no infraction with the event, but agreed upon a non-mandatory request that Kelly make himself the event host.
It also made room for satire and decided any endorsement from Zac Efron would be irrelevant to the campaign since the "High School Musical" star is not a UNL student. It ruled the poster was not an ethics violation, nor a copyright infringement since a CONNECT supporter bought the poster and then made a new image from it by hanging it on a door, taping a CONNECT shirt over the white T-shirt the star is ripping off on the Rolling Stone cover reproduction, and taking a new photo.
"While it is unknown Zac Efron's preference for this ASUN election, I imagine his support would not be defamatory," Koch said. "I mean we're all in this together, right? Let's get through this."
rachelalbin@dailynebraskan.com
is a member of the 
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The other two parties