Collegiate Times

After much controversy occurred surrounding SGA elections, the results that had been announced last Thursday are still being reviewed.

Debates about the election arose after junior civil engineering major Billy Brubaker, along with others, noticed the absence of a write-in option on the election ballot. Brubaker presented his arguments to the Commission of Student Affairs, an organization designed to make recommendations to the University Council regarding polices that affect student life.

He submitted "a list detailing where the SGA is clearly working outside the constitution," primarily discussing that he felt the missing write-in option on the ballot was unconstitutional.

The judicial branch of the SGA was then able to provide an argument addressing the issues brought up by Brubaker. Junior finance major and Chief Justice of SGA, Aaron Bock, was firm in stating that the removal of the write-in option was valid according to both the constitution and bylaws.

Graduate student in the department of dairy science and Chair of CSA Joseph McFadden said in a statement that CSA had heard the issues from both sides, but concluded that the CSA did not have the authority to overturn the election based on a prior decision in 2005.

"The results of the 2008 Student Government elections should be considered valid and reported to the Virginia Tech student body," said McFadden in the statement. "As determined in 2005 in a meeting of CSA, it is beyond the scope of Commission to overturn an SGA election."

While CSA cannot deem an election fraudulent, it has the right to hold any University Chartered Student Organization responsible for complying with its constitution.

Therefore, at a meeting on Thursday, CSA will discuss all of the various constitutional issues with an appeals committee formed by SGA to determine whether infractions legitimately occurred in the process of removing a write-in box from the election ballot.

"After discussion, necessary or appropriate actions/recommendations regarding SGA may be taken at that time," said McFadden in the statement.

There is a slight chance that the elections may have to be redone, although McFadden described this as "highly unlikely."

While Bock was confident that the judicial branch followed constitutional procedures during the write-in removal, he acknowledged that the organization's official documents should be refined.

"Obviously, we've learned from this year, and we can only try to improve on it," Bock said in response to the confusion that arose over the ballot changes. "The constitution and bylaws definitely need to be looked at to try to include every possible scenario."

The constitution and bylaws do not discuss, for example, consequences that should be enforced if infractions occur against SGA as a whole.

The CSA meeting will take place on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in Brush Mountain Room B in Squires Student Center.