Huntington News

Issue date: 4/7/08 Section: News

Citing a shortage of more than 800 votes, the Student Government Association (SGA) Rules Committee voted last night to extend the voting period for SGA president until Saturday at 3 p.m. Voting was slated to close at midnight last night.

The Rules Committee met in executive session Thursday night and voted to use the committee's first extension period to provisionally draw out voting until 3 p.m. today, then -committee chairman Grant Oberg said during a session last night. Oberg said the decision was a placeholder until the committee saw the voter turn out last night, which was when voting was initially scheduled to end.

In last night's meeting, the committee used its second and last extension to push the voting period to Saturday. The Rules Committee can't extend elections past five days, making Saturday the furthest day to which they can extend.

According to the Direct Elections Manual, SGA requires 20 percent of the undergraduate student body - a little more than 3,000 students - to vote.

"We have a direct election for a reason, and we set that goal at 20 percent turnout and we need to reach that goal," said presidential candidate Dan Kamyck.

The committee also heard multiple grievances filed against candidates Rob Ranley and Kamyck last night, adding more tension to an already controversial election.

Ranley faced two formal grievances and two complaints before the Rules Committee last night.

The first grievance concerned Ranley and members of his campaign's presence in a residence hall unaccompanied by the person who signed them in. This violates the sign-in policy of the university, Oberg said during the meeting.

The rules committee found Ranley responsible, and sanctioned his campaign, denying him further access to residence halls for campaign purposes. SGA president Joey Fiore called it a "severe handicap" to Ranley's campaign.

"This is like poking somebody's eyes out and telling them to go pin the tail on the donkey," Fiore said.

The second grievance filed against Ranley was the allegation that members of Ranley's campaign had asked students whom they had voted for. Grant ruled this wasn't a violation of the rules.

Ranley was previously censured on date by the Rules Committee, along with former candidate Marines Piney, for failing to turn in his candidate biography on deadline.

A last-minute grievance was filed by SGA senator Derek Miller against Kamyck for also having campaign members in residence halls without a resident.

Miller proposed that the committee reverse its sanction against Ranley in exchange for dropping the grievance against Kamyck. Although the Rules Committee ultimately decided to drop Miller's grievance against Kamyck, it voted not to reconsider Ranley's sanctions.

When a News reporter asked if Miller's grievance could be considered extortion, as suggested during the Rules Committee meeting by a senator, Miller insisted it wasn't.

"Honestly, this is just politics," he said.

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