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Thursday, March 1, 2012 11:56 p.m.

Narla nabs Student Association top spot in runoff

by Sarah Ferris

Supporters of Ashwin Narla jumped from their seats when his name was announced for the position of Student Association president Thursday night. Michelle Rattinger | Senior Photo Editor

Ashwin Narla edged ahead of John Bennett for the title of Student Association president in a runoff  Thursday night, carrying 53 percent of the student vote.

Dozens of Narla supporters erupted into cheers as their candidate’s name was announced after a two-day vote drive, chanting and pumping their fists.

“This is only the beginning,” Narla said, after a crowd charged toward him for congratulatory hugs and high-fives.

“I’m not saying that I can change the whole school, but I want to make small changes that will make a difference,” the junior said.

Throughout the campaign season, Narla promised to step up the SA’s outreach to students, create a student organization calendar and eliminate classroom technology fees.

Ashwin Narla embraced John Bennett, congratulating him on a "clean campaign," shortly after the Joint Elections Committee announced the runoff results. Zach Krahmer | Hatchet Photographer

More than 100 students packed a lecture room in Funger Hall, waiting about 30 minutes for the Joint Elections Committee to tally the votes after polls closed at 9 p.m.

The election marks the second-straight year that an SA outsider beat out a finance committee chair for the presidency. Narla received 2,331 votes, while Bennett received 2,054 votes.

The JEC originally reported 57 percent of the vote went to Narla, but the organization’s chair, Phil Gardner, corrected the totals with The Hatchet about an hour after the announcement was made. He said the discrepancy was due to a miscalculation of the percentages, and added he is 100 percent sure the new figures are accurate.

“The vote totals weren’t wrong. It was just our calculations of those votes that were wrong,” Gardner said.

Narla came in second to Bennett during last week’s general election. Bennett earned about 130 votes more than Narla, but did not reach the 40 percent threshold needed to secure the post, forcing a runoff.

The JEC also announced that Michael Naple captured the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences graduate senator seat and Michael Komo won the College of Professional Studies senator spot.

Hatchet reporter Kaya Yurieff contributed to this report.

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Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012 11:07 a.m.

Two SA Senate candidates receive violations

by Sarah Ferris
Student Association, SA, postering, marvin center

The Joint Elections Committee's charter prohibits more than 30 posters for executive positions, 20 for U-At-Large seats and 10 for all other posts. Hatchet File Photo

The Joint Elections Committee charged two candidates with campaign  violations Saturday – the first violations the body has doled out during the election season.

Ross Rattanasena, who secured one of three Elliott School of International Affairs senate seats, is charged will hanging too many posters on a building. Senate candidates can only post 10 posters.

Justin Pennish, who unsuccessfully bid for the U-At-Large seat, is also charged with exceeding the poster limit. He is also charged with the failure to get his materials approved by the JEC.

Candidates found guilty of six or more violations will be removed from the ballot.

The violation hearings for both candidates will be held on Feb. 27.

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Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012 11:47 a.m.

Campaigners charge the Marvin Center for early morning postering

by The GW Hatchet

This post was written by Hatchet reporter Kaya Yurieff.

A stampede of students clutching rolls of duct tape and fistfuls of flyers charged the Marvin Center Wednesday morning, clamoring for the campus’ most coveted wall space.

Student Association campaign volunteers and candidates swarmed Kogan Plaza as early as 6:30 a.m. for the annual tradition that jolts GW into election mode.

Phil Gardner, chair of the Joint Elections Committee, fired up the bundled-up crowd as they stretched their legs and got into running stances.

“Four, three, two, ONE!” Gardner shouted as the candidates and supporters trampled each other on the short strip separating them from prime postering terrain.

“It’s pure chaos, I’ll say that much,” Kirk Wilson, treasurer of the JEC, said as he watched over the action.

Freshman Michael Morgan, running for an Elliott School of International Affairs senator spot, said he had a “blast” and can’t wait for elections.

SA elections will be held Feb. 22 and Feb. 23.

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Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012 1:34 p.m.

JEC announces unverified list of candidates for Student Association

by Sarah Ferris
SA, Postering, Marvin Center 2010

Candidates and their campaign teams race to hang election posters on coveted Marvin Center wall space, an annual tradition that will take place on Feb. 15 this year. | Hatchet File Photo

More than 70 candidates filed for positions in the Student Association, Marvin Center Governing Board and Class Council elections, the Joint Elections Committee announced Friday.

Eight candidates declared bids for the top two SA spots this year, compared to last year’s crowded 12-person race for president and executive vice president.

Fewer undergraduates made bids for SA Senate seats this election season with 22 students vying for spots, down from 29 last year. JEC Chair Phil Gardner said the decline may be because of more stringent signature requirements on petitions for SA offices.

Candidates were required to collect 125 signatures for the U-At Large seats, 100 for the Colombian College of Arts and Sciences seats, 50 for the Elliott School of International Affairs seats and 50 for the School of Business seats – a change from signatures of 1 percent of constituents last year.

The number of graduate students running for SA Senate positions went from 10 candidates last year to 18 this year. Gardner said the JEC worked with the Center for Student Engagement to encourage election participation among graduate students.

All candidacies are unofficial until candidates’ petitions and academic and disciplinary records are verified by the JEC this weekend. Voting will take place Feb. 22 and 23.

The full list of candidates is below.

President – 1

  1. John Bennett
  2. Benjamin Pincus
  3. Jeremy Iloulian
  4. Will Thompson
  5. Ashwin Narla

Executive Vice President – 1

  1. Ben Leighton
  2. Austin Brewster
  3. Abby Bergren

Undergraduate At-Large – 2

  1. Justin Pennish
  2. Elizabeth Kennedy
  3. Hugo Scheckter

Graduate At-Large – 2

  1. Jacob Wilson
  2. James Bonneau
  3. Jake Chervinsky

Columbian College of Arts and Sciences undergraduate senator – 6

  1. Daniel Egel-Weiss
  2. Markus Batchelor
  3. Nick Gumas
  4. Omeed Firouzi
  5. Yusuf Yilmaz
  6. Anthony Bucci
  7. Ian Shetron

Columbian College of Arts and Sciences graduate senator – 1

  1. Amanda Castroverde
Elliott School of International Affairs undergraduate senator – 3
  1. Alicia Rose
  2. Ross Rattanasena
  3. William Castagna
  4. Michael Morgan
  5. Peter Starkey
  6. Sabrina Chugani
Elliott School of International Affairs graduate senator – 1
  1. Jonathan Kirk
  2. Patrick Rizk
GW School of Business undergraduate senator – 2
  1. Ryan Counihan
  2. Evan Kline
  3. Tobey Wood
GW School of Business graduate senator – 2
  1. Gregory Viola
  2. Kevin Curley
  3. Shashwat Gautam
  4. Sheldon Tomlinson
  5. Omar Khan
School of Engineering and Applied Science undergraduate senator – 1
  1. Neil Forquer
  2. Buddy Bernhard
School of Engineering and Applied Science graduate senator – 2
  1. Will Rone
Graduate School of Education and Human Development senator – 2
  1. Michael Amesquita
GW Law School senator – 3
  1. Elizabeth Barnes
  2. Meredith Dempsey
  3. Jay Yarbough

School of Medicine and Health Sciences undergraduate senator – 1

none

School of Medicine and Health Sciences graduate senator – 2
  1. Robert Kickish
  2. Jordan Werner
School of Public Health and Health Services undergraduate senator – 1
  1. Alexander Mizenko

School of Nursing senator – 1

none

College of Professional Studies undergraduate senator – 1

none

College of Professional Studies graduate senator – 1

none

Program Board Executive Chair – 1
  1. Lauren Shenfeld
Program Board Vice Chair -1
  1. Bogdan Trach
Marvin Center Governing Board undergraduate – 4
  1. Jordan Hill
  2. John Paul Koenigs
  3. Uchenna Nwokike
  4. Ian Ceccarelli
  5. John Richardson
  6. Galen Petruso
Marvin Center Governing Board graduate – 1
  1. Gary Wong
  2. Jason Weissler
Class Council Senior
  1. Izack Nacheman
  2. Brittany Lee Garcia
  3. Aglaia Alexandrovna
Class Council Junior
  1. Loren Chen
  2. Kristin Kelleher
  3. Dana Honor
  4. Kayley Sullivan
Class Council Sophomore
  1. Tessa Bay
  2. Lee Seitz
  3. Kirsten Fischl
  4. Jacquelyn Cory
  5. Nick Shah
  6. Aamir Husain

 

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Wednesday, March 23, 2011 1:28 a.m.

Clark, Costigan safe from ballot removal

by Jamie Blynn

Presidential candidate Chris Clark and executive vice presidential candidate Ted Costigan were both cleared of campaign charges by the Joint Elections Committee Tuesday night, and both candidates will participate in to this week’s runoff election as originally planned.

Clark was acquitted of a charge alleging he sent out a campaign email prior to the start of the official campaign period. The JEC also unanimously found Clark not guilty of having palm cards taped in various places in Madison Hall. According to election rules, no poster may be hung inside a residence hall unless it is on a dorm room door or inside the room itself.

The Clark campaign said they did not  dorm storm – an event where candidates are permitted to go through the residence halls to campaign – this year. Clark added that if his team did dorm storm, Madison Hall would be not have been their first choice of halls to visit or poster.

“The violations were misguided and overblown,” Clark said. “I appreciate the JEC and their understanding of the situation. I look forward to this week’s campaign election and look forward to having the opportunity in serving the student body next year.”

Clark, who received 26.53 percent of the vote in the general election, will face off against John Richardson for the Student Association presidency in Wednesday and Thursday’s runoff elections. Richardson garnered 25.02 percent of the vote.

EVP hopeful Ted Costigan was acquitted on all eight charges levied against him.

The JEC found Costigan not guilty for having a poster hung on a wall in Thurston Hall, for hanging a poster on the Clock Tower on the Mount Vernon Campus, and for distributing palm cards outside the designated campaigning zones.

Additionally, Costigan was acquitted of all charges made against him for disrupting University functions during a rally outside Gelman Library March 7 to protest student printing costs. Costigan also did not receive any violations for his involvement in a Facebook event to promote the rally.

Costigan was further found not guilty of interrupting a Pi Kappa Phi chapter meeting. He will go up against EVP rival Amanda Galonek in the runoff election.

Both candidates already received violations two weeks ago for postering on the walls adjacent to the entrance of Ross Hall. Clark received two and Costigan received one, based on the number of posters hanging on the building’s walls.

It takes six penalties to be removed from the ballot. Penalties are assessed based on the number of violations a candidate is convicted of.

“We’ve been committed to running a campaign while my opponents have come up with charges against me instead,” Costigan said. “I’m going to be out there again, fighting hard for every vote.”

Newly-elected SA Sen. Nick Koeniger, SoB-U, received two violations for distributing palm cards at the entrance of Duques Hall and in the buildings’ study rooms.  Candidates are restricted to specific zones on election day marked by campaign tape.

The JEC also gave one violation to Senator-elect Elizabeth Kennedy, ESIA-U, for creating a public event on Facebook. The committee’s charter notes that Facebook events must be closed and that only the candidate may invite people to attend.

Runoff election voting will run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday.

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Tuesday, March 22, 2011 10:01 a.m.

SA runoff election ballot to include vote on new instant runoff voting system

by Jamie Blynn

An amendment to change the way students vote for Student Association president and executive vice president will go before the student body for a vote Wednesday and Thursday during the SA runoff election.

If passed, the amendment would allow the Senate to create an instant runoff voting system for next year’s elections.

The system would prevent SA elections from going to a separate runoff vote by allowing voters to rank multiple candidates running for office according to preference. If no candidate received the required 40 percent of the vote to win, computer software would eliminate the candidate in last place. The last place candidate’s votes would then be distributed to their supporters’ second choice which they marked on their ballots.

“Combining runoff with the general election saves time,” said former SA Sen. Phil Gardner, who ran for SA president on a platform to abolish the SA.

Gardner added that because the events are separate, voter turnout tends to be lower for the runoff.

“[The IRV system] allows more voters to participate in the runoff,” Gardner said. “Turnout drops significantly from the general election to the runoff election under the current system.”

The SA Senate first passed a bill, sponsored by then-Sen. Gardner, in favor of the Instant Runoff Voting system last year, with the stipulation that the student body vote on it during this year’s election. Although it was left off the ballot during the general election earlier this month, Joint Elections Committee Chair Galen Petruso confirmed it will be on the ballot during the runoff.

Petruso said the JEC was not notified of the amendment until the day of the general election.

“[The amendment] will be added to the runoff election [ballot] to be voted on,” Petruso said. “No one from the senate notified us about it until the day of elections.”

Marvin Center Governing Board and Sen. Dylan Pyne, CCAS-U, informed the JEC of the missing amendment on the ballot.

“I was under the expectation that it would be in the ballot, but when I opened up my ballot to vote it was not there.  I felt passionate enough to inform them,” Pyne said, noting that it was most likely a mistake.  ”I would not say that [it was forgotten] because of the turnover, but it not being there was in no way malicious.”

Runoff elections will be held March 23 and 24.

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Friday, March 11, 2011 7:07 p.m.

Clark, Costigan face potential removal from runoff ballot

by Jamie Blynn

Student Association presidential candidate Chris Clark and executive vice presidential candidate Ted Costigan each face enough campaign violations to potentially remove them from the runoff election ballot, a member of the Joint Elections Committee said Friday.

The JEC found probable cause on eight complaints made against Clark and on four against Costigan, in addition to four other complaints the JEC validated against Costigan Wednesday.

JEC Vice Chair Hardy Farrow said Clark’s violations stem from campaign poster infractions and sending unsolicited e-mails. Costigan’s are related to posters, “disrupting University functions and distributing campaign material inside a University building,” Farrow said.

It takes six penalties to be removed from the ballot. Penalties are assessed based on the number of violations a candidate is convicted of.

Both candidates already received violations Tuesday for postering on the walls adjacent to the entrance of Ross Hall.  Clark received two and Costigan received one, based on the number of posters hanging on the building’s walls.

Clark is set to face off against presidential candidate John Richardson in the runoff, and Costigan is pitted against Amanda Galonek after Thursday’s election results. JEC Chair Galen Petruso said the committee has yet to determine what will happen if either candidate is removed from the ballot. He said the runoff would likely be delayed and the next runner-up would be added to the ballot.

Kwasi Agyeman came in third in the presidential race and Samantha Free came in third in the EVP race.

Newly-elected SA School of Business Sen. Nick Koeniger will also be tried for two violations and Elliott School of International Affairs Sen. Elizabeth Kennedy will be tried for one.

The runoff elections are scheduled for March 23 and 24.

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Wednesday, March 9, 2011 11:37 p.m.

JEC gives violations to nine more candidates

by Jamie Blynn

Nine more Student Association candidates received election penalties from the Joint Elections Committee Wednesday night, halfway through the two-day election period. None of them received enough to be removed from the ballot.

After debating in executive session for half an hour, JEC members determined SA presidential candidate Chris Clark, executive vice presidential candidates Ted Costigan and Zahin Hasan, and SA Senate hopefuls Danica Brown, Daniel Bassali and Jonathan Carfagno guilty of hanging campaign posters on the exterior walls adjacent to the entrance of Ross Hall.

According to the election charter, postering in this area is grounds for  violation. JEC Chief Investigator Willard Applefeld said posters adjacent to the Ross Hall entrance give candidates an unfair advantage “up and down 23rd Street.”

Penalties were determined based on every fifth poster, or fraction thereof.  Hasan received four penalties, Clark and Bassali each received two violations, and Costigan, Carfagno, and Brown each received one.

It takes six penalties to remove a candidate from the ballot.

“It’s unfortunate,” Clark said afterward. “But we’re going to keep powering through it.  It was not intentional and was a complete misread of the charter.  We’re going to move forward from here.”

EVP candidate Aria Varasteh also received one violation for covering Costigan’s last name on a poster with tape.

“I just did not check the Academic Building at the end of the day.  It was a mistake.” Varasteh said. “It’s the day before the election, I am not going to contest.

Presidential candidate Kwasi Agyeman, who received two penalties last week for sending unsolicited e-mails to student organization leaders, was also tried for hanging posters on Ross Hall, but was the only candidate not found guilty.

Agyeman argued that based on the evidence, it was unclear whether his posters were hanging at Ross Hall or not.

The JEC also handed down penalties to senate candidates Manuel Iglesias and Patrick Cero for not getting their posters approved. Both received one penalty each.

JEC Chair Galen Petruso said the committee will disclose its reasoning for the decisions within 72 hours.

“The specific reasons as to why candidates were found in violation will be found in the committee’s finding of fact, which will be adopted within 72 hours of the decision,” Petruso said.  ”While it is regretable that penalties had to be assessed, the JEC operates under the charter it is given and must conduct elections accordingly.”

The JEC’s next violations hearing will be held after spring break. Costigan currently faces four additional violations and senate candidate Elizabeth Kennedy faces one.

Voting will resume Thursday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

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Wednesday, March 9, 2011 10:27 a.m.

JEC announces location for election results

by Jamie Blynn

The Joint Elections Committee will announce the results of the Student Association, Marvin Center Governing Board, Class Council and Program Board elections in the Marvin Center Continental Ballroom Thursday.

In previous years, the JEC made these announcements in the Marvin Center’s Columbian Square.

Polls are open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday.

If no candidate receives more than 40 percent of the vote for a specific seat, runoff elections will be held March 23 and 24.

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Monday, Feb. 28, 2011 9:08 a.m.

JEC approves final candidate list

by Jamie Blynn

The governing board that oversees the upcoming Student Association, Program Board, Class Council, and Marvin Center Governing Board elections approved Sunday the list of official candidates for the upcoming student elections.

After determining the legitimacy of the signatures that candidates had to submit from their constituencies, the JEC approved 51 candidates for the SA – 39 for senator positions, seven for president and five for executive vice president–  two for PB, four for MGCB and six for CC. Seven candidates’ petitions were determined invalid and not placed on the ballot.

Keith Osentoski, Pierre Doriscat Jr, Reem Ghoneim, Alexander Bradley Canales, James Reed, Katrina Valdes and Shawn Kelly were disqualified from their respective races.

Candidates were determined invalid if they turned their registration in past Monday at noon or after the extended registration period on Friday at 5 p.m.

“JEC is glad to announce the amount of people who have registered this year,” JEC treasurer Ari Kasper said. “We’re excited about the increase in candidates for major positions.”

Students will be able to write-in candidates for seats that have no registered candidates – College of Professional Studies, undergraduate and graduate, School of Medicine and Health Sciences undergraduate, School of Nursing, Marvin Center Governing Board graduate and the Graduate School of Education and Human Development.

Elections will be held on March 9 and 10.

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