ASG Election Run-Off Vote

President and vice president to be announced this evening

Nicolas SonnenburgTHE SANTA CLARAApril 28, 2016 

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n a compelling turn of events, Santa Clara’s Associated Student Government announced Tuesday that the first round of voting for the presidency and vice presidency was too close to call and that the election would continue as a run-off.

In Monday’s voting, the Whelan-Everett and Diaz Fong-Feyzi tickets came out ahead, and proceeded to the next round of voting. The Betschart-Marioni campaign did not collect the adequate number of votes to move forward.

ASG bylaws mandate that candidates for the offices of the presidency and the vice presidency can be declared victors only if they receive more than 50 percent of the vote or if one of the tickets has more than 20 percent than the other tickets.

Neither of the two leading tickets met either of the victory requirements. While the election was presumably a close one, ASG will not release how many votes each ticket received.

Senior Madeline Owen, current ASG vice president and this year’s election committee chair was “not comfortable divulging” the number of votes each ticket received.

According to Owen, ASG has never released voting statistics. She said that the organization observes this practice “in respect of the candidates.”

However, Owen did say that approximately 1,200 students voted in Monday’s election. Although not an exact number, this would put voter turnout at around 22 percent. The university’s website lists an undergraduate population of 5,385 and all enrolled first-years, sophomores, juniors and seniors are eligible and automatically registered to vote.

The run-off voting occurred yesterday. Online polls opened at 8:00 a.m. and closed at 11:59 p.m. While the votes were presumably totaled automatically, ASG observes a 24-hour waiting period to allow candidates to file any objections to the process.

ASG will announce the winners late this evening.

Both the Whelan and the Diaz Fong campaigns felt optimistic about their chances going into yesterday’s run-off election.

“We have been incredibly pleased with the election process so far,” Whelan said in an email. “We are in this race to make it all the way. As far as our campaign strategy goes, we are not changing too much, but we are really going to keep pushing to get our message across and convince as many voters as possible that we are the right choice for (Santa Clara).”

According to Whelan, his campaign was not surprised by the run-off result, saying that the three tickets were “competitive” this year.

The Diaz Fong-Feyzi ticket was equally prepared to continue the campaign and expressed hope about their prospects in yesterday’s round of voting.

“Thank you so much for the support in the first round, Broncos!” the campaign said in a Facebook post to supporters Tuesday night. “We’re the team with five years of ASG experience, the dedication to the organization and the school as well as clear and specific plans on how we want to achieve our goals! We need your support once again on Wednesday!”

Diaz Fong and Feyzi had a leg up in this round of voting since Angelina Marioni, Lauren Betschart’s running-mate, endorsed the duo. Betschart did not officially endorse either ticket since she is prohibited from doing so by ASG bylaws because of her current position on ASG’s executive board.

“...we’re happy to see our good friends and accomplished colleagues, Lidia and Fred, continuing to compete for the Pres/VP slot,” Marioni said. “I believe that Fred and Lidia are most likely to be the leaders to take this organization exactly where it needs to go, and for the right reasons as well.”

Marioni said that Diaz Fong and Feyzi had the most experience in regards to ASG and that they “represent a diverse community across the campus.” She encouraged her supporters to place their votes for Diaz Fong and Feyzi on Wednesday.

When asked about the endorsement, Feyzi said, “One word: honored.”

Feyzi also said that he thought Angie and Lauren were qualified and value the experience they have. While he did not flat-out promise appointed ASG positions if elected, Feyzi said that the two would be strong candidates.

“This isn’t the last that we see of Angie and Lauren in terms of ASG,” he said. “They were a great duo that took time to run for this election, and that kind of passion doesn’t just go away. Should we be in a position to make appointments, I would say that I hope they applied for those key positions, for they would be extremely strongly considered.”

However, Whelan and Everett, who had no comment on the Marioni endorsement, ran an active campaign right into yesterday’s voting.

On their Facebook page, which has 209 “likes,” the two candidates posted throughout the voting day, offering reflections on their time at Santa Clara and their hopes for the university’s future.

Whelan spoke of how his status as a third generation Bronco, a member of the LGBT community, an active participant in Greek life and a member of ASG has influenced his campaign vision.

“Now looking forward into my senior year on this run-off election day, I could not be more proud of what our campaign has accomplished and the incredible support we’ve received,” he said. “We’ve brought up real issues, we’ve advocated for the rights of the student body, your rights, and we have worked for a campus that will be more inclusive of every identity of Bronco.”

Outside of the presidential election, Diaz Fong expressed disappointment about the lack of involvement in senate races. It was disheartening to her that 19 first-year senatorial candidates ran for five spots last year. This year, that class only had five candidates for the same five spots.

“The decrease in that number is a bit alarming and means that something within the organization needs to change in order to motivate more people to run,” she said.

This year, junior Neil Datar won an uncontested election for senate chair.

Despite a lack of competition, the races for senate seats have not been completely uneventful.

According to records of election violations ASG keeps on its website, Cormac McOsker, who ran for a junior senate seat, was found responsible for an infraction because of an offensive comment he made during the campaign.

“On our campus we have lots of squirrels. All kinds of squirrels,” he said at an event. “But the problem is we didn’t invite these squirrels and they aren’t good squirrels. We have criminal squirrels. We have rapist squirrels. We have murderer squirrels. Let’s build a wall.”

A clear reference to Donald Trump’s infamous campaign remarks about Mexicans, the comment was found to be in violation of ASG campaign rule Section 3, III, B, 2.

“Candidates should use good taste and be respectful of the diversity of our community,” the relevant rule reads. “Campaign materials, slogans, and platforms should not include obscene language, lewd or indecent language, images, or inferences, discriminatory statements, stereotypes, or any other effort that is inconsistent with the state values of ASGSCU and the University.”

The election committee decided that the comment was in poor taste, but chose not disqualify him.

As of Wednesday night, three other candidates had been cited for late candidacy filing infractions. They too were not disqualified.

Contact Nicolas Sonnenburg at nsonnenburg@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852. Maura Turcotte also contributed to this report.