SG Election Suspended Because of Registrar Error (Updated)

Somebody in the Registrar’s Office mistook spring for fall and botched the election, per an FAU announcement half an hour ago (when I was driving home from class):

Due to technical difficulties with the eligible voter list, the current Student Government Legislative Elections have been temporarily suspended until further notice. The voter list sent to the Student Government Elections Board by the Registrar’s Office should have been for the Fall 2009 term, instead the Registrar’s Office inadvertently sent the voter list from the Spring 2009 term. The Elections Board is working to resolve this issue.

To ensure a fair campaign and election on all FAU campuses and in accordance with the Student Government Elections Statute:

324.100 In the case of catastrophic technical or elections process failure, the Student Body President, may upon agreement with the Chair of Elections and the SG Advisor, call a new election and any voter results of the disrupted election will be invalidated.

The SG President and Elections Board have called for a new election to be held at a future date. All previous votes for candidates have been invalidated. The new election date and time will be posted in the near future. We appreciate your understanding and patience regarding this matter.

For more information, please contact the Student Government Elections Board or your respective campus Student Government Advisor:

Elections Chair:
Freddy Moldt
fmoldt@fau.edu
561-297-1357

Boca Raton Campus Elections Commissioner:
Sarah Lanciault
slanciau@fau.edu
561-297-1357

Jupiter Campus Elections Commissioner:
Manesh Gopaldas
mgopalda@fau.edu
561-799-8590

Boca Raton Campus SG Advisor:
Heather Bishara
hbishara@fau.edu
561-297-6777

Jupiter Campus SG Advisor:
Adam Ferrando
aferrand@fau.edu
561-799-8696

Davie Campus SG Advisor:
David Bynes
dbynes@fau.edu
954-236-1001

Fort Lauderdale Campus SG Advisor:
Karen Esteves
kasteves@fau.edu
954-762-5695

Treasure Coast Campus:
Rochelle Popp
rpopp@fau.edu
772-873-3443

Again, we thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Sincerely,

Tiffany Weimar
Student Body President
fau.sgpres@fau.edu

Freddy Moldt
Student Government Chair of Elections
fmoldt@fau.edu

More on this tomorrow.

Update: Haven’t had a chance to talk to the SG adviser, election chair, or anyone in the registrar’s office. Did talk to President Weimar, who says “it was pretty much an honest mistake.” As for when the new election will be, “We don’t know. Obviously we want to expedite it and get it done as quickly as possible.”

They’ve gotten the correct list from the registrar and the SG advisers are working out the eligible voters list, which then has to be filtered through the campus tech people at IRM to the company that handles the e-voting system. President Weimar was unwilling to give an estimated date for the election, but reiterated it was “a top priority.”

Is This a Competitive Election?

In Jupiter and Boca, marginally. Everywhere else, not at all.

Treasure Coast has just six seats and six candidates. Two of them, Speaker Carmela Innamorato and Representative Thomas Lind, are running for re-election. As long as they all get at least one vote, they’re in.

Broward has 12 House seats and, fortuitously, 12 candidates. All five of the sitting House members there are running for re-election. (The rest of the seats were vacant — a common problem everywhere, but especially on the partner campuses. Those seats will now, temporarily at least, fill up.) Likewise they have two senate candidates, one who’s running for re-election and another filling a vacant seat. Same thingfor all these folks: One vote and they’re in.

Jupiter has seven House seats and nine candidates, so the two people with the fewest votes won’t make the cut. Only two are running for re-election: Rep. Richard Smith and Rep. Eric Bishop. Jupiter also has two people running for the pair of senate seats there.

On Boca, there are 42 seats. Guess how many candidates? 43 — so one of the five fill-in candidates is out of luck for now. However, if things go as usual, a handful of newly elected members will never attend a meeting and be forcibly resigned from office, opening up those seats for in-House elections to fill the vacancies. Quite a few of these people are running for re-election or have been in SG previously, though there are at least a dozen names I don’t recognize. Boca’s senate seats are slightly more competitive: four people running for two seats.

If you’re curious about the size of the Houses, each House gets five seats plus one for every 500 students who attend that campus. I wonder when the last time these numbers were recalculated, though — I’ll ask an SG adviser about that.

If you haven’t voted and want to, you can do so at the usual place — not at “www.myfau.edu” as some election flyers in the Breezeway say. Just log in and click on the elections tab. You have until midnight tomorrow. For fun, save your voting record and see if the unlucky couple of people you didn’t vote for make the cut without your help.

State of the Student Body Address (Semi-Liveblog) [Finished]

[Note: this entry goes from bottom to top because it started as a liveblog. It's done now.]

So let’s break down the numbers:

-35 minutes long from the original scheduled start time

-15 minutes of speech time

-Five minutes of thank yous

-Two-minute laundry list of events

-5 minutes of generalities

-Three minutes of substance

Attendance-wise, 100 people confirmed on Facebook. 35 people max showed up. 90% minimum were Student Affairs or SG people.

—————-

3:17. Just now got a late e-mail via Facebook that the event time was changed — albeit half an hour before the speech — to 2:30.  (It was originally scheduled for 2:15.)

2:51. I checked out the renderings. They’re the Rec Center expansion and Innovation Village.

2:50. “We’ve made great strides in … improving procedures … and making Student Government more accessible.” And, predictably, a standing ovation when she concludes with “Go Owls!” She didn’t talk about the renderings.

2:49. Praising and saying goodbye to President Brogan. Says she’s been working with the soon-to-be interim president John Pritchett.

2:48. Talking about textbook affordability.

2:47. “Student Government needs to become a sustainable organization.” Citing her chief of staff, Alex van Mecl, who organized the Mission Green club as well. Talking about going paperless.

2:46. Talking about improving school spirit by adding more Owl banners around campus.

2:44. President Weimar says there will be student town hall meetings this semester, posted on the SG Web site. Not much detail yet. She’s also talking about improving accessibility through e-mail, Facebook, the Web site, etc.

2:43. Citing general accomplishments like encouraging and supporting sustainability and raising activism. Talking about the Florida Student Association, something ex-President Abe Cohen also was involved with but I don’t understand well enough to comment on.

2:42. Talking about parking. “Two new parking lots, one next week and one at the end of September.” She’s also talking about the shuttle bus system she helped jump-start with the police department.

2:41. Now the near-future events.

2:40. Now she’s cycling through all the spirit events since the start of the semester.

2:38. I’ve lost count of the clapping, but we’re still in recognition mode.

2:35. President Weimar is giving her thank yous. 5 rounds of applause so far.

2:34. Starting. Vice President Collene O’Reilly is introducing President Weimar. As her former public speaking instructor, it’s a little weird for me.

2:32. I’ve completed my journalistic investigation of the pizza while waiting. That slice of pepperoni pizza I just finished had about 300 calories.

2:27. There continues to be much finetuning of the renderings’ placements and little sign of starting.  More people are arriving, but not many.

2:24. The free food has arrived. Papa John’s pizza and water, if you wanted to know. (Pepperoni and cheese, if you really wanted to know.)

2:20. Still no sign of starting. About 20 people now. Vice President of Student Affairs Charles Brown just joked that “We’re waiting on President Obama to arrive.”

2:15. Scheduled starting time. President Weimar’s walking in and out. Not sure when they’re starting.

2:10. 15 people here so far, including myself plus SG and admin officials. I see maybe two or three people who look like possibly casual attendees. (i.e. “regular” students). Stuff’s still being set up. Brogan’s Last Run and Homecoming (this is apparently “under construction.”) are being advertised, along with the Rec Center. There’s some renderings down front I assume President Weimar will be discussing.

2:03. The speech site has been moved from Traditions Plaza to the Senate Chambers because of the heavy rain. People are starting to come in and set up.

I’ll be engaging in my first pseudo-liveblogging this afternoon for Student Body President Tiffany Weimar’s address. I’d tweet, but I don’t do Twitter. Just haven’t bothered to experiment with it before. Anyway, here goes.

SG Quote of the Week

“When we were campaigning, a lot of students in the House didn’t even know what the Board of Trustees was.” — Presidential candidate Chuck Forbes, in an interview about election contestations this afternoon.

The BOT is the group that makes all the major FAU policy decisions. They meet more or less monthly. Your SG president, Abe Cohen, sits on this board. If House members don’t know that, I’m not sure if that’s more Abe’s fault or their own.

I brought this up during the debate last month, too, and said when the next meeting was — and, of course, I was the only student present at that next meeting, other than Abe. Oh well.

On a tangential note, I know you guys are waiting for the official election results. I’m not slacking off on the issue: I’ve been fighting with the election board, Student Affairs, and Media Relations all week over these contestations, which they wouldn’t release to me freely. I filed a public records request Monday and more than 72 hours later, they haven’t delivered. I’ll get into the details of this in a later entry.

What I can say right now is that there were several contestations — from both tickets — that the elections board dismissed them all, and that Forbes’ ticket appealed that decision to the student court yesterday. I’ll be in touch with the chief justice to find out what the student court decides soon, and you can look for a story from me on this drawn-out process in next week’s print edition of the UP.

How’d the debate go?

The debate Monday night was a success, I felt. I was happy with the turnout, which I’d estimate at between 100-150 (and the room was set for 200). We also had quite a few students come up to ask  questions, many of which were excellent and to the point.

I know you’d all like to see footage, and I’d love to post it, but Owl TV is apparently still editing. I promise to link it at the first opportunity.

In the meantime, I asked all the candidates yesterday for their reaction to the debate. Here are the responses I got, in the order I got them:

Nick Nelson, Boca Governor candidate:

Overall I feel the Debate went smoothly. It was very satisfying to get a good look at the Presidential Tickets and where they stand. As for me, I had a great time hearing the ideas and points of my competitors. As for my platform I will stand by my previous points and work on hearing from the students to make a stronger SG statement on campus. Just want to thank you all for all the hardwork and time you guys put in!

Chuck Forbes, Presidential candidate:

I thought the debates went well, the questions were good, and it gave the candidates a chance to know their opponents on a personal level.

Sai Lo, Boca governor candidate, who noted I didn’t set a word limit:

Please forgive me for the laggardly response. This is the first chance I’ve had to answer my messages today. In response I will have to say that the Student Government Debates last night was nothing less than phenomenal. It is the very essence of what our freedom stands for, whether it be the leaders that arise by a higher calling or the constituents that wish to see what those leaders will provide for them.

But most importantly, it gave those of us seeking the approval of the students a chance to broaden our horizon in our experiences and identify the areas needed for improvement. “The speed of the pack is
determined by the rate of the leader.” And if we as leaders do not improve, how will our great institution of Florida Atlantic University? I learned last night that one of the more unique qualities about me was
that I am a more thorough planner. I rather think more carefully on my responses to give the audience my best rather than give a blatant attempt in answering the questions.

I can whole-heartedly say I gave it my best last night to the new experience of debating. My one regret however was that the Governor-candidates were not given ample or suffice to say ANY opportunities to question our fellow peers as the chance was given to the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates. That, I believe would have been the practical method for healthy competition. At a more feasible schedule where it would have been allowed, we the candidates, would have been able to challenge each others’ platforms to question the stability of our plans for the Boca Raton campus.

I hope this will help answer your questions. As always I am available for any questions you might have. Thank you and the rest of the University Press staff for what you do for this fine institution and most of all for making the students aware. In my time here there have been occasions where the UP gets the word out to the students more effectively than Student Government. But nevertheless….

Donald Karney, candidate for Boca Governor:

Thanks for the inquiry.  Overall, I felt that the debate was a good thing for everyone who was involved. I think that the student body can’t go wrong with whoever is chosen to perform the duties of Governor.  Each of us is qualified in our own ways to lead the Boca Raton campus to greatness.

Personally, this was my first debate and I thought it went well. The only adjustments to my platform would be to make it more detailed.  I said that we needed to find ways to generate revenue to make up for the budget cuts.  I now realize, after two people asking me, that I needed to be more detailed in how I want to generate the revenue itself.

I haven’t heard back from anyone else, but if I do, I’ll post their thoughts as well. I’d also love to hear from people who attended, especially if you asked a question — how was it for you guys? Did you get something useful out of the debate, or learn anything interesting? E-mail me your experience and I’ll post it, so long as you aren’t clearly bashing candidates.

Again, video clips ASAP! I can’t control the delay, sorry.

Can Facebook Predict an SG Election?

Probably not.

But it might be fun to compare the results to this chart I’ve compiled, based on who’s friends with who.

Why do I subtract 10% at the bottom? Well, it’s an arbitrary amount, I admit — I’m not majoring in statistics. But it’s one way to partially account for people who are part of more than one of the six categories, as well as people who are in one of these but won’t vote.

This tallies up to 3747 votes, which given past participation records sounds like a high number. We’ll see.

But, if Facebook were an accurate indicator (under the assumptions that this is just a popularity contest and college students vote predictably) the result would be a win for the Forbes-Simmons ticket, with 56% of the vote.

However silly all this is, one interesting statistic does come out of it. For both tickets, the candidates recruited very close to 31% of their friends (president’s plus VP’s) to their party’s group. Weird.

SG Presidential Race Back On

Just a quick update…

I called Tiffany Weimar the Pre-President-elect in the last post: now she’s the Ex-pre-President-elect.

Yesterday at 4:30 p.m. Student Affairs, after considering a petition from the pair on one of the ineligible tickets, decided they screwed up.

Charles Forbes and Joshua Simmons were deemed ineligible based on Simmons’ GPA, which has two requirements:

1. ) A last-semester GPA requirement (2.25 according to university regulation)

2.) A cumulative GPA requirement (2.5 according to the SG Constitution).

Student Affairs decided Simmons was ineligible because his GPA last semester wasn’t 2.5 — but his cumulative was, so the decision was reversed.

Which means there are two tickets in the running now, among other things. Look for more about this in next week’s print issue of the UP.