Students aren't getting the whole story, and the potential Student Government Association slate isn't helping matters any.
A discrepancy among the 400 signatures needed to run for student government has led to the need for a second nomination convention.
Elections Board Chair Marco Pretell-Vazquez said some of the signatures "did not appear genuine" and had unverifiable addresses and "similar" handwriting styles. However, the Elections Board could not determine definitively if they were from the same person. Pretell-Vazquez said the board decided there was enough of an issue with the signatures to ask the slate to collect them again but not enough of an issue to disqualify the slate from running altogether.
Potential presidential candidate Beth Cahill's comment on the issue was, "All I can say is that to our knowledge all of the signatures were genuine."
In addition the slate said it was disappointed in the Elections Board's decision to have a second nomination convention.
The Elections Board and potential slate are not agreeing. The board said the signatures did not appear genuine, and the slate says they were.This discrepancy should cause students to wonder about the core issue at hand.
Specific answers are needed from either one or both groups that are dealing with this conflict.
Students should know what precisely could not be verified within the signatures and how similar the handwriting was.
The questions are rather simple and straightforward; however, straightforward answers have not been given.
The job of the Elections Board is to ensure that the electoral process runs smoothly and fairly.
Without a clear and precise picture from the board about what went wrong with the signatures, the goal of fairness is tough to reach.
The job of any slate that wants to run for SGA is to represent the student body.
In its repeated ambiguity, the potential slate has avoided answering questions that are important to the students it is supposed to represent.
True representation includes openness. It includes a willingness to take responsibility for all actions.
This slate has begun to lay a groundwork of unreliability for its campaign and, with no other slates yet in the running, for its term as leaders of SGA.
All parties involved would do better to set a precedent of specificity and openness.
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