GSA adds new candidates to ballot
Election board accepts applicants despite deadline
By Betty Song
The Graduate Student Association elections board unanimously
voted Friday to allow three late applicant candidates onto this
year’s election ballot.
Although deadline for the three elected positions of president,
internal vice president and external vice president was Friday,
April 14, confusion over the closing date and the small number of
current candidates prompted the board’s decision.
"My vote was based more on an interest in the democratic
process," said board member Geoffrey Gerdes. "As it stood, there
were two uncontested positions (so) it adds credibility to the vote
in general."
Prior to the board’s decision, the positions of president and
internal vice president were uncontested,while two candidates were
running for the external vice presidency. With the addition of
three new candidates, there would be three people running for both
president and external vice president while the internal vice
president position remains uncontested.
However, after the decision was made, one of the candidates for
president decided to withdraw from the race since the position was
no longer uncontested.
"All I wanted was some democracy," said history graduate student
Jennifer MacFarlane. "If John Shapley (a new candidate) was on the
ballot, I didn’t want to run against him. (I ran because) I didn’t
want an unopposed race  I wanted a choice."
Although the deadline was not officially extended, the three
late applicants were told to write a letter of appeal to the
association forum requesting acceptance to the ballot, said
Commissioner of Elections and Appointments Allan Stout. However,
the forum decided that the elections board would make the final
decision, said forum chair Rachel Hobbs.
In addition to trying to expand voters’ choices, the board also
took the candidates’ persistence and level of interest into
consideration, said board member Adrienne Ono.
"The commissioner of elections received seven calls after the
deadline, but only three people followed through," Ono said. "(It’s
a) problem getting anyone interested in participating in (student
government) at any level, and those who petitioned showed interest,
and they actually wrote letters (of appeal)."