After several days of deliberation the lone slate that attended Monday's Student Government Association nomination convention has announced the resignation of its treasurial candidate and campaign manager.
Presidential candidate Beth Cahill said the situation concerning the 400 student signatures required for a slate to run in the SGA election was caused by miscommunication between treasurial candidate Cody Willis and a volunteer with the slate.
Willis and campaign manager Kyle Ellis, a Daily News staff member on an indefinite leave of absence, have contrasting versions of the events leading to their resignations.
Cahill said she respected their choices to resign and didn't tell her side of the story.
"This was an honest mistake," she said. "It was not malicious in any way."
Cahill and Willis said the idea to resign was Willis' and he resigned on his own accord. Ellis sent a statement to the Daily News at about 11 p.m. Wednesday announcing his resignation. He said in the e-mail that remaining the campaign manager wouldn't be in his best interests. He also said the three slate members asked him to remain on the staff, and he is "eager to do so."
The slate has found replacements for the positions, Cahill said. She couldn't name Willis' replacement as of 1 a.m. Thursday. Ellis will be replaced by Betsy Mills, former SGA president and sister of vice presidential candidate Mandy Mills. Ellis will likely stay with the slate as its scheduling coordinator, Cahill said.
SGA President Frank Hood said the slate met Wednesday night and came to its decision before announcing Willis' resignation. He said Ellis didn't attend.
Cahill said "honest mistakes were made and responsible parties are taking accountability."
The problem revolves around Willis' methods when gathering his signatures, according to Willis, Ellis and Cahill.
Willis said he began gathering his signatures by passing the sheet around to members of his fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon. Seven or eight signed but didn't write their addresses.
He said he asked Ellis for advice about confirming the missing addresses. Willis said Ellis told him it was OK to confirm the addresses and write them in himself.
Ellis denied this statement Wednesday night.
At the nomination convention Monday, Elections Chair Marco Pretell-Vazquez said the Elections Board believed some of the signatures weren't genuine and decided to disqualify the packet. He said it was clear that several names were written similarly on two pages.
"There were two pages brought to my attention that one person had gone in with a pretty distinct blue-colored pen and wrote in names and addresses," Pretell-Vazquez said. "The addresses weren't even in full, they were just street names."
Disqualifying the slate was never brought up, he said.
Cahill said the blue pen was not necessarily Willis, but he had admitted to making a mistake.
A Daily News article Tuesday reported Ellis saying he didn't thoroughly examine the signatures before the nomination convention. Cahill and Willis said Wednesday they didn't look through them thoroughly.
Cahill said she should have taken a closer look at the signatures.
She said if the slate had known of any issues with the election packet, it wouldn't have gone to the convention.
After the convention, Willis said he met with the slate to discuss the matter. Willis said he told the slate he thought his methods were acceptable based on conversations with Ellis.
Ellis said Willis was vague about what went wrong with the signatures and his procedure.
"[Willis] didn't seem to understand what was going on with the packet as a whole," Ellis said. "He didn't seem to understand why the packet was not being accepted by the Elections Board."
Willis said Ellis later denied telling Willis to confirm the addresses and write them himself.
"I did absolutely not tell him it was OK," Ellis said. "I would absolutely never allow that to happen."
Wednesday the Daily News reported Cahill saying to her knowledge "all the signatures were genuine." She said the slate learned about the problems with the signatures as the week progressed.
At an unspecified time, Willis said he suggested to the slate that it admit the mistake and be open about the situation, which he said Ellis advised him against.
"People deserve to hear the truth," Willis said. "I wish it was done earlier."
Ellis said Willis never asked him if he could write the addresses himself. He said Willis went back to the fraternity to "take care of that." He didn't think Willis meant he could write in the addresses.
Cahill said she was disappointed to make a bad first impression among students. She said the slate has the best of intentions and are passionate about representing the student body.
"We're hoping to overcome this and prove that we're absolutely capable of representing the student body," she said.
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