Acorn

After three weeks of kinks and hesitation, the student body has finally -- and legitimately -- elected itself a president.

Juniors Adam Alonso and Jen McGroarty became the Student Government Association president and vice president for the 2005-2006 academic year with a total of 229 votes in yesterday's re-election held in the University Center. They beat out write-in candidates Paloma Lehfeldt and Erin Caragher by 14 votes. Write-ins Dan Biggers and Ian Klein also received 76 votes, and 24 of the 544 students who participated in the election voted for other write-ins.

Alonso said it felt "extraordinary to be able to leave this process after these circumstances" with such an outcome. He stressed that despite the win, his prime objective will focus on uniting the campus, including reaching out to "everyone involved in the election so that we can lead with one voice."

Although Alonso and McGroarty had a "governing plan" in place during their platform in the first election, Alonso said they came into this second election with less of an agenda, and more of an intention to focus on developments throughout campus during the past month. "The first thing we want to work on is unifying the student body after a divisive few weeks due to several issues," he said.

He also said that while he still respects the voting process, despite recent difficulties, he plans to "make major reforms in it starting this Sunday" at the SGA meeting to be held at 4 p.m. in UC 123. "We need to take a look at what happened, advance the technology involved ... The process should reflect the era we live in." At press time, Alonso was preparing to work with McGroarty to prepare the rest of Sunday's agenda, which will include discussion of a Student Activities Committee, appointing his cabinet and replacing the senator positions now left vacant by Alonso and McGroarty.

Yesterday's re-election was held after the Joint Elections Board found the original March 31 election to be flawed. In the April 1 issue of The Acorn, JEB member Erin Ferris reported that, "When we were counting ballots, it came to our attention that there were more ballots than people accounted for on the list." Due to this discrepancy -- which the JEB claimed was great enough to sway the election in the direction of either Alonso/McGroarty or opponents Jon Connelly and James Acey --they made the decision not to release any numbers, but to instead hold a re-election to prevent any possible error in the outcome.

Before the second election could be held, the JEB chose to remove the Connelly/Acey ticket from the ballot for violation of election statutes, the details of which could not be disclosed under penalty of violation of the statutes. Connelly and Acey chose to appeal the JEB's decision, which further delayed the election. The appeal was brought in front of the Judicial Board Tuesday night, where the J-Board ruled to uphold the decision of the JEB to remove Connelly and Acey from the ballot. According to J-Board Chief Justice Dave Nitti, "The proceedings went very smoothly, and although their appeals were not upheld, their objections were considered thoroughly by the Judicial Board and helped us to suggest any revisions to the Election Statutes we felt the JEB should consider." The specifics of the hearing could not be discussed. "Again, the Judicial Board appreciates the campus' patience during this appeals process and apologizes for the delay in the elections process," Nitti said.

JEB members Attorney General Dave Walker and University Senator Shane Branon were pleased with the manner in which this second election was run. "There were absolutely no discrepancies," Walker said. "Five hundred forty-four votes were cast and 544 votes were counted in the final outcome." Walker and Branon are also confident that there will be no grounds for appeal in this election. "The grounds for appeal are procedural error or bias," Walker said. They are certain neither circumstance exists here and added, "The deans have reviewed and given their official approval to the entire process."

Both the JEB representatives and Alonso commended the effort put forth by the campus to see success in this second election. "We are ecstatic about the engagement in both elections and throughout the entire campaign process in between," Walker said. They stressed their appreciation for the considerable efforts of the write-in candidates and the participation of the student body for such a high turnout the second time around. Although the JEB personally slid fliers under the doors of every on-campus resident Wednesday evening, students were given only one day's notice of the election. "It really speaks to the energy and involvement of the entire Drew community," Branon said.

Outgoing SGA President Mike Giacopelli expressed support for his successor. "We are at a time of great change and opportunity," Giacopelli said. "With the selection of Dr. Weisbuch as University President and the election of Senator Alonso as SGA president, the University is poised for incredible movement forward and it is not an opportunity to be squandered. The student body has spoken and I truly hope that President-elect Alonso and Vice-President-elect McGroarty seize this opportunity to achieve greatness."

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