Student Government Association (SGA) held elections for the five member executive board for the 2016-17 term on April 18th.  Four students were running for President.  Princess Burch had  the most votes with 111,  and Allie Back had 110, but neither candidate had a majority of the votes, or fifty percent plus one vote.  Because no one received a majority of the votes, a run off election was held between Burch and Back on April 25th.  Back won the run off election.

Concerns have been raised about the runoff election.  Specifically, the complaint was student government did not follow procedure.  Only two members of the executive board were present when the decision to hold a runoff election was made, and two is not a quorum for the board.  Subsequently, the university administration was asked to look at the actions of student government. The Spectator met with Dean of Students Jeffrey Hynes, regarding concerns about the election.

“It was reviewed and what was found warranted a conversation…It was agreed upon by the group [SGA Executive Board]– the decision of the run off was not validated because not all cabinet members were present,” said Dean Hynes.

According to Dean Hynes, the only violation was in the way the decision was reached, and there was no violation in the vote counting. When asked about whether there was any violation with campaigning, Dean Hynes said it was not a part of the concern and therefore not something that was looked into.

Both candidates have been involved in the discussions and student government has been trying to address the issues with meetings throughout the week. Dean Hynes did want to stress that, “student government in no way was trying to be sneaky, underhanded, or act with malice.” He did find they acted without quorum.

Regarding the constitution, Dean Hynes mentioned, “The constitution needs to be written better and much more clearly. That is the main task of the next executive board moving forward.” He also said that there should be regular review and maintenance of the constitution and it should include procedures that must be followed with elections and, specifically, how a winner is determined.

At this point, the university is holding student government responsible for the events that took place, and have recognized there were errors that need to be addressed.

So what is the solution?

There will be a formal announcement from SGA regarding the election process outcomes.  The announcement should take place Thursday May 5th at approximately 3:00PM by the Student Government Association.