Election season kicks off

The campaigning period for positions within the Student Government Association (SGA) began last Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Lasting until the polls close on April 11, the campaigning period is the time for potential candidates to become known to the general Tech population in hopes of being elected to the positions of SGA Executive President, Vice-President or one of the 57 open seats in the Undergraduate House of Representatives (UHR) that are up for grabs.

Candidates for President are Anu Parvatiyar, the SGA Chief-of-Staff and a Biomedical Engineering major; Alex Wang, SGA Academic Affairs Chair and a Chemistry major; Bob Worrall, an Industrial Engineering major; and Mark Youngblood, a Computer Engineering major.

Candidates for Vice-President are Kyle Dreyer, an Aerospace Engineering major; George Ray, a Public Policy major; and Matt Peeples, an Economics and International Affairs major.

The Election Committee headed by Will Welch, SGA Elections Chair, oversees both the run up to the elections and the coordination of the elections themselves.

"The Election Committee's primary goal is to see that the elections are both fair and smooth. Also to ensure that the students get who they voted for without too much distraction for issues of cheating," Welch said.

During the run up to the election, the responsibilities of the Election Committee involve modifying the election code that governs the conduct of the candidates during the election. Although not a new addition to the election code, Welch said that an emphasis had been placed this year on strengthening the rule for those convicted of elections tampering. It is one of the ways that a student can find themselves permanently barred from participating in SGA.

Not every rule violation will find the candidates barred from SGA, but the rules and requirements in the code are meant to ensure a fair playing field for all the participants. Candidates running for Executive President and Vice-President are capped with a $250 spending limit and those running for seats in the UHR are capped at a $50 spending limit.

"I think one of the common misconceptions is that people think that SGA funds the candidates' expenses for them. They are allowed to get money from other sources, but candidates do not receive any money from the SGA," Welch said.

Candidates must abide by the spending limits put forth by the election code as exceeding the limits by less than five percent is a violation that is reviewed by the Elections Committee. Exceeding the five percent boundary results in an automatic disqualification from the election process.

"Any undergraduate student can turn in a violation form if they think the election code has been violated. The violation goes to the Election Committee... and we make a decision on whether we think the code has been violated and to what level was the code violated," Welch said.

Solutions to minor violations can involve the Election Committee asking the candidate to fix the problem and more severe violations can carry the punishment of disqualification or being barred from SGA.

"If someone who works for a candidate violates the code, the candidate will be held responsible for that person's actions. In extreme cases the actual violator would be held accountable for their actions, but in all cases the candidate will be held responsible," Welch said.

Other major issues that candidates must deal with are the areas of communications through email and in the residence halls. The distribution of election messages through email lists that any student is required to be a part of for academic purposes is prohibited.

The policies for campaigning in residence halls are set up by the Department of Housing. If a candidate does have an issue with a violation, they can be appealed to the Undergraduate Judiciary Cabinet.

All information about the election process and its rules can be found at http://sga.gatech.edu/files/ElectionsCode_App.pdf.