By Sasha N. Williams
Students will have another opportunity to cast their vote for next year’s SGA executive vice president in tomorrow’s run off election.
On March 20, the SGA supreme court heard an appeal by Kyle Riggs, who ran against Brian Hoffman for the executive vice president seat. Riggs appealed the 5 percent penalty of his own votes that he received for campaign violations. Riggs received this penalty for campaigning on the popular Web site Facebook.com. The 5 percent penalty cost him the election.
The Court reconvened on March 22 to hear the case. Riggs’ appeal concerning his 5 percent penalty was reviewed by five of the six supreme court justices: Chief Justice Sean Deskins and Associate Justices Glypie Grider, Renea Steele, Jordan Glover and Steve Wilson. Associate Justice Missy Hite was absent from the hearing. Glover and Wilson maintained that Riggs’ 5 percent penalty was appropriate, but Grider, Steele and Deskins voted it too harsh.
In a 3-1 opinion with Steele dissenting, the court then voted to impose a new penalty docking 2.25 percent of all votes from Riggs’ final vote count. While the court didn’t name the official winner at that meeting, the numbers showed that Riggs led by only a fraction of a vote.
When the court met again on March 27, the justices decided that a fraction of a vote was not enough to declare a winner. They unanimously voted it a tie decision and to hold a run-off election. The original run-off dates have already passed, so the court has determined that the election will begin Wednesday, April 5, at midnight and continue through Thursday, April 6, at 5 p.m. Students will be able to vote electronically on ULINK from any computer with Internet access.
Riggs will not be docked any votes in the upcoming election. “He’s already been penalized,” Deskins said. “We’re not going to penalize him again.”
Hoffman preferred not to voice his comments on the Court’s decisions to lesson Riggs’ penalty and to hold a new election.
“I have my own personal opinions about those results, but sharing them at this time would serve no purpose,” Hoffman said. “So I am just going to try to have fun and do things a little differently this time.”
Riggs said he is satisfied with the court’s decisions concerning his appeal. “I’m really excited that the voters will get to decide the election. I was worried that just a few students would end up outweighing the popular vote.”
This year’s SGA election resulted in six official complaints. Since all but one had to do with Facebook, some students wonder whether the rule will be amended next year. Each year the rules are re-evaluated, but Deskins predicts that the court will keep the rule. “Basically it’s to protect the students’ privacy,” he said.
