Election and Survey Results

In case you didn't see Justin's post on Wesleying, here are the winners of the 2008 Winter Elections:

Student Budget Committee:
Gianna Palmer, Jared Keller, Charles Kurose, Anna Chang, Johanne Lin

At-Large Reps:
Allison Quantz, Karl Grindal, Benedict Bernstein, Kathy Stavis, Robert Chris Goy

Frosh Reps:
Jen Liebschutz, Elise Rosenthal, Fludiona Naka

Of course, there was a strong showing for Giant Joint in all three races.

Some immediate reactions:

-Gianna Palmer '10's decisive reelection is a clear thumbs-up for her "kinder, gentler" SBC. Kudos to Gianna for using the internets to win over the student body with her popular online funding request system.

-Chris Goy '09's victory validates his interesting decision to eschew the 150-word candidate statement, which he said in the Argus "is anything but an indication of how somebody will perform". But it would be interesting to see if someone less prolific would have the same success with a "No BS" campaign.

-Props to the Frosh for filling all their seats.

-Turnout was ENORMOUS! See what competitive elections can do? Ok, winning candidates, now let's see if you can keep your supporters engaged with campus politics next semester. Don't worry, you'll have my help.

Comments on the perhaps more interesting survey results to come.

2008 Winter Elections - 2 days left to VOTE!

If you haven't yet voted in the Winter 2008 WSA Elections, there's still time. The polls close at 11:59 PM on Friday night, so make sure to visit the WSA homepage before it's too late. Don't put it off until Friday night - you don't want to get disenfranchised by your drunken stupor...

It seems this time around that Wesleyan students might actually care who gets elected to the WSA. Thanks to OEAC (the Organization and External Affairs Committee)'s publicity drive, not only do people know there's an election going on, but they even know who's running in it.

Does that mean more people are going to vote? One thing that might get in the way is some confusion surrounding the three different elections. A few people have mentioned that they don't feel comfortable voting to fill a position they have no idea about. One person was so perplexed by the SBC election that he just threw his vote away on a random write-in. So, without further ado, here's your

Handy-Dandy 2008 Winter Election Guide!

There are 13 open seats this election:

• 3 Frosh reps
  
• 5 At-large reps (upper classes)
• 5 SBC members
  

Frosh and At-Large are pretty self-explanatory. Class reps get to run in internal elections for an open seat on one of the WSA's all-powerful standing committees. Once in the WSA, it doesn't matter whether you're a Frosh Rep or an At-Large Rep - anybody is eligible to run for a committee seat. The distinction is only during elections to guarantee that Frosh are represented.

The SBC election is different, which is a potential source of confusion. The Student Budget Committee opens up a majority of its seats to direct election by the student body every winter to ensure that its members are held accountable. This extra layer of accountability is critical because the SBC allocates the Student Activities Fee to recognized student groups on campus; since everybody pays this fee, there needs to be a way for students outside of the WSA to take control of it midway through the year if they feel like it's being abused or mismanaged. We're talking about the well over $700,000 which Spring Fling, the Argus, WESU, Second Stage and pretty much every other student group/activity depend on.

Now that you know why the election's run the way it is, go out and vote!