Let the complaining begin.
The official campaign period for the general election began Tuesday and 50 complaints were filed with the Joint Elections Committee that day against candidates who could be running for positions in the Student Association, Marvin Center Governing Board, or Program Board, according to the election oversight body.
JEC Investigator Jeff Goodman, a senior, will report on the complaints before a closed-door meeting of the JEC today at 7 p.m.
“With this initial meeting, we are determining whether there is probable cause to continue on any given complaint to the hearing stage,” said JEC Chair Laura Bentele, who said she is unable to elaborate on the complaints and those accused.
“If probable cause is found and a hearing is necessary, those involved will undoubtedly be public,” said Bentele, a sophomore.
According to the JEC regulations, a candidate can be removed from the ballot if they are found guilty of six violations.
Another issue that the JEC will need to deal with is the candidacy of sophomore Max Holland who is running for a graduate seat on MCGB.
Holland mistakenly marked on his petition that he will be running for a MCGB graduate seat, instead of a MCGB undergraduate seat. This would make him ineligible to run.
Holland’s name will remain on the ballot until the University officially confirms that he is not a graduate student, Bentele said.
“Our stance – and my personal stance – is that it is somewhat absurd to a reasonable person that Max’s petition is invalid,” Bentele said. “It was just a mistake on the part of Max, but a mistake with consequences nonetheless.”
Holland said that he will continue to run for a seat on MCGB. There are four other candidates running for four undergraduate seats on MCGB including juniors Vik Jayadeva, Timothy Shea, Michael Whitten and sophomore Mike Rossetti.
“I am not going to let a bump in the road like getting thrown off the ballot stop me from trying to run,” Holland said. “I am going to run as a write-in and see what happens.”
The general election will be held next Tuesday and Wednesday. A run-off election for the top two vote-getters for SA president and executive vice president will occur from February 28 until March 1, if needed.
