Oracle Online

Elliott said that he had planned to run for HUSC President but due to poor publicity did not find out that the deadline for a petition to run was due by Feb. 28 until Feb. 26.

“[HUSC’s Public Relations Committee] didn’t perform in that aspect,” Elliott said, adding that the lack of information about the elections made it so he had to find a running mate on very late notice. Because of that, Elliott said, he had to switch running mates twice.

His first running mate, Joao da Fanseca, realized after agreeing to run that he would not have time to be vice president of HUSC next year and decided to drop out.

“I’ve got full disclosure,” Elliott said, stating he did not want to hide anything that he felt HUSC and PAC should know. He informed HUSC President Kristin Falde, who talked to PAC Chair Jeana Blomme. They agreed to give him extended hours in order to find a new running mate.

Elliott then found Joe Rucker, and the two entered as a candidate team. However, Rucker found out later the night of Feb. 26 that he was not eligible to run for an elected position on campus.

“The one thing we didn’t want to do was fly under the radar,” Elliott said, citing his decision to call Falde and Blomme within the hour to let them know he had a new running mate. He left messages on each of their phones and was called back approximately half an hour later. By this time, he had found his current running mate, Ed Elfmann. After talking to him, Falde and Blomme said they would get back to him.

The next day, Elliott was informed shortly before HUSC’s General Assembly meeting that his name would not be on the ballot, and it was announced in the meeting that he would not be running.

“I didn’t pull out-I was pushed out,” Elliott said.

Falde cited “a variety of unfortunate events” as being the reason for the decision, which was made unilaterally by Blomme. Later, Elliott requested that the ruling be overturned, which requires a vote by PAC. The appeal was denied.
Blomme was not available for comment.

Elliott and Elfmann are still running a write-in campaign, but say that it will make their job significantly harder. They did not receive the $50 budget that other candidates were allotted, and students will have to write in their names manually if they wish to vote for them.

“[T]hey still have the opportunity to campaign and convince students that they would be the best representatives of them,” Falde wrote to the Oracle. She said she hopes that this decision can now make it so attention is “focused back onto the students.”

Elliott, however, called the decision “shocking.”

“I think it’s a great disservice to the diverse student body there is [at Hamline] to not have representation,” he said, adding that by trying to make a “good faith effort” to solve the problems he knew should be brought to PAC’s attention, he was repaid by being stricken from the ballot.