SGA Elections

In reference to the Special Elections, I was informed that there was a "glitch" in the tallying system and that a mistake was made with the spelling of my opponent’s name. When students voted the system was confused and did not register any of his votes. This information was disclosed to me; however, several sources informed me that they were told that the votes were "tied" and that this was the reason for their being a "special election." I am sure that anyone would be confused when you receive information that is contradictory but I was assured that there was no foul play and that this was the first time a situation of this caliber had ever occurred.

 There were some issues centered around the Special Election as well. Apparently the polls were open on Tuesday for testing; however, no one was notified that these votes would not be counted. Many of my supporters unknowingly voted on Tuesday only to have their votes deleted for the actual elections on Wednesday. Several people informed me that there was a misprint in the Special Election date and  that Pacer Times was accidentally given the wrong date. They were under the assumption that Tuesday was an actual voting day because of all of this confusion. There was an email sent out but I feel that the email was not clear enough and I can see how students could have been confused.

Honestly, I feel that the best person won. I am sure that at the end of my term I would not have been liked by my cohorts because a lot of policies and protocols that are currently in place would definitely be addressed or changed under my leadership. I felt that I was the opportune person for the position because I was not running for myself but for my colleagues and unlike the students who currently hold an executive position in SGA I actually live on campus and I know the problems that we face as on-campus students after 5 pm. Having a “smoke free” campus is a good policy to enact but there are definitely far more pressing issues to be concerned about at USCA. I am not disparaging anyone or any organization but I feel that SGA as an organization is not performing to the best of its ability and it has so much potential to do astounding things for USCA. Some would ask, “Well, why would you want to be a part if SGA?” It is because I am a firm believer in taking action rather than complaining about things that I “can” change. It would be completely dishonest of me if I said that everything was fine with elections. The process was definitely an unpleasant situation but my focus now is to make sure that this does not happen to future candidates rather than worrying about why the elections played out the way they did and who should have won. The results of the election were not all bad. I gained a closer relationship with Ahmed Samaha and a better understanding of how systems work. I wish all of the newly elected officials and SGA much success in the future but I still intend to strive to improve the areas that I feel the university is weak in right now without the title. As I said in the beginning and I still say this when my peers ask me now about the ordeal, I never ran for me. I ran for change. I ran for everyone who felt that they could not voice their concerns or that their opinions did not matter. It was “never” about me. I am just glad that I can move on to achieving something else and although I did not win, this is not the end for me.