The University of Alabama ‘Machine’ strikes back, dominates campus elections

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After a year without holding the highest office in the Student Government Association, the University of Alabama “Machine” struck back in a big way. Chi Omega Sister Lillian Roth won the Presidency outright, avoiding a runoff despite competition from two well-known independents: Patrick Fitzgerald and Caroline Morrison.

Roth, a rising Junior from Montgomery majoring in Political Science, impressively won over 7,400 votes: almost 54 percent of all those cast.

“I’m very honored to have gotten the support of students,” Roth said last night.

Not only did The Machine win the Presidency, but it won every single executive office save for Vice-President of External Affairs, an office for which it had no official candidate.

The election is being viewed as a significant blow to the independent movement, including the above-ground campus political party known as The Capstone Coalition. The Coalition was organized last year in an attempt to give students an organized alternative.

Last year, Elliot Spillers became the first independent to win the presidency since current Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill in 1986 and the first black president since Cleo Thomas in 1976.

For over a century The Machine has held almost total sway over Greek life and the SGA on UA’s Tuscaloosa campus.

The so called “secret society” has been the topic of a cover story in Esquire magazine. It’s been featured in the New York Times. It’s been accused of election-rigging, voter fraud and intimidation. It was even blamed by some for the SGA being shut down for several years in the wake of harassment and assault allegations.

But it’s also been responsible for electing UA SGA Presidents who have gone on to become some of the most well-known and successful leaders in Alabama history.

Here’s a partial list:

1915-16 Lister Hill, the first UA SGA President, became a United States Senator
1920-21 Joseph W. Sewell played for the New York Yankees with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig
1923-24 John J. Sparkman became a United States Senator
1928-29 Albert Boutwell, Sr. became the Mayor of Birmingham
1935-36 Hugh Davis Merrill, Jr. became Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives
1951-52 Robert Smith Vance became a Federal Judge
1952-53 William J. Edwards III became a U.S. Congressman
1955-56 Walter W. Flowers became a U.S. Congressman and was a key democrat on the Watergate Panel. When Nixon lost his vote on the panel, he knew he had to resign.
1967-68 Don E. Siegelman became Alabama Secretary of State, Attorney General, Lt. Governor and Governor
1974-75 William Bell Blount became the Chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party

There have also been dozens of Alabama students who rose through the SGA system with the backing of The Machine and went on to be pillars of their communities across the state as business and civic leaders.

But in the past 100 years, there have only been a handful of Alabama students who conquered The Machine to become SGA President without their blessing.

1936-37 Carl A. Elliot became a U.S. Congressman.
1963-64 Donald Wilbur Stewart became an Alabama State Senate and United States Senator
1970-71 James W. Zeigler served on the Alabama Public Service commission and is now Alabama State Auditor
1976-77 Cleophus Thomas, Jr. became the first black SGA President, went on to Harvard Law and served on the UA Board of Trustees
1978-79 A. Jerry DeVaney, after whose election The Machine added sororities to their ranks to bolster the size of their voting bloc
1983-84 John N. Bolus
1986-87 John Merrill served in the Alabama House and is now Alabama Secretary of State
2015-2016 Elliot Spillers will graduate from UA in May.