Posted 1:15 a.m. Oct. 8. Information added 3:05 a.m.
The results of Student Confederation Fall 2004 elections for the Class of 2008 council and General Assembly residence hall and off-campus seats were announced around 11:30 p.m. Thursday night in the Gianni Lounge in Mary Graydon Center.
More than 500 students voted in the elections, according to SC Board of Elections Chair Marc Malon. Every seat was contested except those for off-campus and Anderson Hall representatives for the GA, the student government's legislative body.
"I think that's the first time we were able to fill all of the seats in three years," said Board of Elections Vice-Chair Mark Viola.
Some of the newly elected students said they were excited.
"The campaign was very stressful. I only studied, campaigned and slept the past week," said Woojin Kim, the elected Class of 2008 treasurer. "I feel ecstatic, joyful, blissful, satisfied. I am happy that I won and that I have the support of my friends. Without their help, I probably wouldn't have gotten it."
The election ran smoothly, according to Malon, despite the board's late beginning and minor policy infractions during the campaign season.
"Monday night we had to pull down 166 illegal flyers," Malon said. "[But] it was resolved and nobody was removed from the ballot."
However, Class of 2008 presidential candidate Douglass Reale was unhappy with the way the board handled the elections.
"The rules that were written down were changed without [the candidates] knowing about it," Reale said, citing a specific rule about the appropriate size of "chalkings."
According to Reale, he "made a chalking within the parameters of 6 feet by 6 feet," which he understood to be allowed. The next morning he was told the maximum chalking size was 5 feet by 5 feet. Reale felt this incident had a negative impact on his campaign.
"After what happened with the first chalking, I didn't want to go through that again," Reale said. He placed third in the election, with three votes less than winner Andrew Price-Gibson.
"I'm going to continue pursuing this," Reale said. "I plan on running again in the Spring [elections]."
Malon agreed that there were some inconsistencies regarding locations of chalkings, but that all candidates were clearly aware of the other rules.
"We didn't have him remove the chalking," Malon said. "He received no sanctions. I just told him to take a couple of inches off." Reale also raised questions over alleged inconsistencies in the board's rules on using characters on campaign materials.
Class of 2008 Treasurer candidate Khai Ha made a poster featuring a smiling clip-art figure and the slogan, "This guy's voting for Ha," playing off of Ha's last name. The poster was approved and copied, but the Board later decided the poster could not be posted because it violated a rule stating that a specific character could not endorse a candidate, Reale said.
Malon said the approval of Ha's poster was a mistake and that the board "didn't dock him on his financial disclosure form," a form on which candidates must list every campaign expense as they cannot go over a specific dollar amount.
However, presidential candidate Samantha Handler's posters featured Bart Simpson. The difference was Handler's poster was one of the first to get approved and she had already copied and posted several hundred posters, according to Malon.
"We had to talk about this situation after. It just would be unfair to her," Viola said.
Malon and Viola said they plan to revise the Board of Elections official rules and regulations through the GA in time for Spring 2005 elections.
"I can understand why some candidates would be upset," Malon said. "We need to clear up the holes."
Overall, Malon and Viola said they are happy with the way elections turned out.
"Three banners, zero fires. That's an accomplishment," said Viola, alluding to the campaign banner burnings in the Spring 2004 elections.
Along with the revised Board of Election rules, the Spring 2005 election will utilize a computerized voting system. Due to time restraints, this election was conducted through paper ballots.
The paragraphs below summarize the winners, followed by a more detailed list of candidates and votes.
The elected Class of 2008 council is Andrew Price-Gibson - President, Danielle Nash - Vice-President, Sarah Haney - Secretary, and Woojin Kim - Treasurer. Katie Myers, Matt Larson, and Mike Crowley were elected as Class of 2008 General Assembly representatives.
The elected residence hall GA representatives are J. D. Teitelman and Joseph Vidulich - Anderson Hall, Daniel Greeley and Charlie Biscotto - Letts Hall, Anna Drabant - Leonard Hall, Sean Johnson - McDowell Hall, and Brian Brown - Hughes Hall. Mike Pasko was elected as Tenley Campus GA representative. Zach Ulrich, Grace Mann, and Ian Sterne were elected as off-campus GA representatives. Centennial Hall election results are still pending.
The candidates, winners and votes are included below (number of available seats denoted in parentheses, winner in italics):
Class of 2008
President (1) Andrew Price-Gibson 51 votes, 14.7% Peter Chang 50 votes, 14.5% Douglass Reale 48 votes, 13.9% Alex Tausanovitch 47 votes, 13.6% Shea Mulcahy 47 votes, 13.6% Barron Weyerhaeuser 38 votes, 11% Lee Dreyfuss 29 votes, 8.4% Samantha Handler 21 votes, 6.1%
Vice President (1) Danielle Nash 70 votes, 20.2% Michael Wagner 67 votes, 19.4% Will McGahan 61 votes, 17.6% Michaela Thayer 61 votes, 17.6% Allyson Goodwin 60 votes, 17.3%
Secretary (1) Sarah Haney 126 votes, 36.4% Marissa Chmiola 99 votes, 28.6% Khai Ha 86 votes, 24.9%
Treasurer (1) Woojin Kim 137 votes, 39.4% Sara Woods 110 votes, 31.8% Elizabeth Hershman 68 votes, 19.7%
General Assembly
Off-Campus (3) Zach Ulrich 14 votes, 23.3% Ian Sterne 11 votes, 18.3% Grace Mann 10 votes, 16.6%
Anderson Hall (2) J.D. Teitelman 92 votes, 35% Joseph Vidulich 92 votes, 35%
Centennial Hall (1) Krysta Hankee
Letts Hall (2) Daniel Greeley 77 votes, 29.4% Charlie Biscotto 71 votes, 27.1% Bryan Riley 55 votes, 21%
Leonard Hall (1) Anna Drabant 36 votes, 78.3% Brittney Henderson 10 votes, 21.7%
McDowell Hall (1) Sean Johnson 30 votes, 50% Joshua Sticklin 22 votes, 36.6% David Masucci 8 votes, 13.3%
Hughes Hall (1) Brian Brown 46 votes, 64.8% Conrad Bukoski 23 votes, 32.4%
Tenley Campus (1) Mike Pasko 14 votes, 50% Emily Freifeld 13 votes, 46.4%
