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March 13, 2007
Write-in candidates grab HUSC's top posts
Write-in candidates Michael Elliott and Ed Elfmann won the HUSC presidential campaigns March 7.
Political Affairs Committee Jeana Blomme said that the victory could in part be due to the publicity their campaign generated through being off the ballot. She cited such things as the Oracle’s coverage of the situation last week as well as the extra campaigning Elliott and Elfmann engaged in to make up for the disadvantages of their write-in status. Messages left for Elliott were not returned as of press time.
“A lot of people were talking about the write-in campaign,” Blomme said. “’Who are the write-ins?’ they would say.”
Most of the other candidates declined to comment, but those who did seemed disappointed, but not angry.
“I’m kind of unhappy I didn’t win, but who wouldn’t be,” presidential candidate Colin Schulte said.
Vice-presidential candidate Brian McShea said that while he was kind of upset, he felt that the team could do a good job next year of running HUSC.
“If that’s what the student body wants, that’s what they want. It won’t stop me from doing the best I can for this campus,” he said.
This is the first time that a write-in campaign has received the most votes in a HUSC election.
The campaign led by Elliott and Elfmann has been met with some controversy, including statements that their method of campaigning and publicity funding were not legal by HUSC bylaws. It has also been said, however, that the two differed from other candidates in that they were not granted the $50 refundable budget that other candidates had.
Most of the controversy, though, does not seem to be causing too much of a stir.
“As long as HUSC is better next year, it doesn’t really matter,” McShea said.
Election publicity
Election flyers posted by HUSC went up the week of the election instead of earlier.
Public Relations Committee Chair Sarah Elston said the election was publicized as late as it was because they did not get election times until late in the week.
Elston took time after HUSC on Feb. 6 to put up election posters. Those posters were stamped Feb. 5 by the Student Center front desk.
Elston and her committee did publicize the election via other means, such as CLA digest.
“We’re not a post-making committee like everyone thinks,” Elston said.
In addition, very few class representatives had posters up. Walking around campus, the Oracle saw posters for only one class representative candidate, Ebony Baggett. Baggett took second in the voting for senior representative with 55 votes, only one behind Carley Luse, who had 56.
In other HUSC news, the general assembly meeting on March 6 lasted a total of 12 minutes- the shortest in recent memory.
Ballot totals
HUSC President/VP
1st Round
Dahmon Romness & Brian McShea 80 Votes
Tina VanSteenbergen & Cindy Schuchardt 130 Votes
Colin Schulte & Paul Sawyer 40 Votes
Michael Elliott and Ed Elfmann 236 Votes
Total: 486 votes
2nd Round
Dahmon Romness & Brian McShea 98 Votes
Tina VanSteenbergen & Cindy Schuchardt 136 Votes
Michael Elliott and Ed Elfmann 240 Votes
3rd Round
Tina VanSteenbergen & Cindy Schuchardt 174 Votes
Michael Elliott and Ed Elfmann 266 Votes
Senior Representatives
Carley Luse 56 Votes
Ebony Baggett 55 Votes
Ed Elfmann 61 Votes
Graham Smith 3 Votes
Paul Sawyer 3 Votes
Matt Deny 2 Votes
Andrea Richter 2 Votes
Scott Steiskal 2 Votes
Kelsey Schuder 2 Votes
Alex Kopplin 2 Votes
Junior Representatives
Aleksey Ozerkov 102 Votes
Taylor Seeman 77 Votes
Mada Tautges 63 Votes
Dean Borth 48 Votes
Sophomore Reps
Adam Hanson 104 Votes
Mike Schuster 98 Votes
Jenna Steffen 102 Votes
Katie LaSota 93 Votes
Student of Color Reps
Debbie Soukasem 31 Votes
International Reps
Anne Perera 3 Votes
Amrit Sharma 3 Votes
Posted by dwright at March 13, 2007 11:07 PM
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