Spring Election '01 - William's Log
See the totals from the first ballot count.
See the rest of the returns from the first ballot
count.
See the early returns for the first ballot
count.
See the referendum question.
See the candidates for SMUSA executive.
See the slates.
See the long-term elections schedule.
See my introductory spiel.
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the log page for the Spring 2001 Elections. Slightly biased because I might be running for Arts Rep. =)
A SPECIAL NOTE: Unlike my high school election logs, I do not have the luxury of saying whatever I want on my own website. So of course I can not publicly pick favorites (which is probably a *good* thing!), nor can I say much in 'disrepute' of things like the website regulations. Like, let's say I really didn't agree with or care for them very much; I wouldn't be allowed to say that. =)
All that said, regulations exist for a reason, and I intend to respect and abide by them, aside from that little indulgence.
Sunday, April 22nd, 2034h - SOUND VICTORY... FOR MY OPPONENT
I ran for Arts Rep, and
I got trashed: 155 to 77. But I'm not complaining, because 77 people decided
to move their pencils down the quarter-inch and check my name off instead.
Really, I'm quite happy with the results, and people loved my posters.
It was fun. See you next year.
Wednesday, February 14th, 1418h - COLD AND SILENT
Those who have had the Caesar
Salad at the S.U.B. Cafeteria lately have undoubtedly noticed this before,
but since I've just discovered it today when I felt like having a salad,
I'll tell you about it: they have stopped including bacon bits. Something
about it costing too much. Cheeeeeeapskates.
Getting back into the rigmarole,
here are the remainder of the first count results. Rumors are flying like
the wind, but I am not taking a side in these new issues. Ever. All I am
saying, and all I will ever say, is nothing. With that spirit in
mind, we'll take a look at the rest of the cold numbers. For rumor-mongers,
I suggest attending the next SRC meeting, or picking up a copy of the forthcoming
Journal,
where I'm positive that they will spare no expense in gloating. =)
Polling Station #6: "Gerard" - First
Count
First, here are some numbers I've missed.
Constitution:
Yes - 50
No - 7
Journal:
Yes - 42
No - 16
Polling Station #3: "Catwalk" - First Count
Originally, I had thought that this would be a bigger deal, but I guess
I was wrong.
President:
Anderson - 34
El-Darahali - 19
Fullerton - 8
Haggart - 21
Vice President Administration:
Cameron - 20
Holland - 9
Innes - 28
Marshall - 19
Schofield - 5
Vice President Student Affairs:
Deveau - 38
Hockin - 28
Weatherhead - 13
Vice President External Affairs:
Appleton - 27
Henderson - 4
Horne - 18
MaGee - 30
Constitution:
Yes - 49
No - 12
Journal:
Yes - 59
No - 18
Polling Station #4: "Rice" - First Count
One of the high-rises. Lots of votes.
President:
Anderson - 54
El-Darahali - 25
Fullerton - 9
Haggart - 40
Vice President Administration:
Cameron - 61
Holland - 6
Innes - 16
Marshall - 28
Schofield - 15
Vice President Student Affairs:
Deveau - 51
Hockin - 67
Weatherhead - 5
Vice President External Affairs:
Appleton - 47
Henderson - 3
Horne - 58
MaGee - 16
Constitution:
Yes - 94
No - 15
Journal:
Yes - 76
No - 41
Polling Station #5: "Collonade" - First Count
This is it. The silver tuna.
President:
Anderson - 48
El-Darahali - 73
Fullerton - 28
Haggart - 79
Vice President Administration:
Cameron - 63
Holland - 37
Innes - 24
Marshall - 56
Schofield - 35
Vice President Student Affairs:
Deveau - 88
Hockin - 106
Weatherhead - 20
Vice President External Affairs:
Appleton - 104
Henderson - 32
Horne - 30
MaGee - 51
Constitution:
Yes - 145
No - 42
Journal:
Yes - 139
No - 65
The February 2001 SMUSA Election and Referendum:
Totals - First Count
These are the unofficial results, as posted in the Gorsebrook Lounge.
President:
Anderson - 277
El-Darahali - 181
Fullerton - 97
Haggart - 254
Vice President Administration:
Cameron - 286
Holland - 82
Innes - 137
Marshall - 189
Schofield - 91
Vice President Student Affairs:
Deveau - 400
Hockin - 319
Weatherhead - 58
Vice President External Affairs:
Appleton - 305
Henderson - 76
Horne - 188
MaGee - 202
Constitution:
Yes - 535
No - 137
Journal:
Yes - 521
No - 218
Wednesday, February 14th, 1030h - EARLY HAPPY RETURNS
I was about ten minutes
into creating this wonderfully beautiful post last night about the election
results that had come in so far to the Gorsebrook, but then the "Activate"
login closed down on me, utterly eliminating everything I was working on.
I guess they have a time limit on it for a good reason: to prevent people
from doing what I was doing! But I am still pissed off at ITSS because
my own login wasn't working for some stupid reason. Anyway, it works this
morning, and I should quit complaining and get on with the show.
The story as it stands now
is this: Samantha Anderson is the unofficial winner of the Presidency,
beating Christian Haggart by only 20 votes. Naturally, a recount is being
held. Apparently Samantha must not have done so well at the Collonade or
Catwalk polling stations. In other news, Christian's buddy Ian Appleton
is looking to receive the position of Vice President External Affairs,
while Paul Deveau and Matthew Cameron have taken Vice President Student
Affairs and Vice President Administration, respectively. Both referendum
questions have passed (the other question being about a minor constitutional
rewording).
Here now are the earliest
(and somewhat dated) returns from last night's vote count. I stayed inside
until about... just over 12 hours ago! Wow. It seems longer. I was originally
going to have some commentary next to the results, but now I think that
I'll just let the numbers speak for themselves, except for one point I
feel I must make: Notice that the unofficial winners all have their names
appearing at the top of the ballots. Geez, I hope when I run that it's
against van Helvoorts and Wagonlits and Yankovics and - you get the picture.
Polling Station #1: "S.U.B." - First
Count
This was the first station to report results last night.
President:
Anderson - 97
El-Darahali - 27
Fullerton - 42
Haggart - 58
Vice President Administration:
Cameron - 87
Holland - 23
Innes - 47
Marshall - 53
Schofield - 12
Vice President Student Affairs:
Deveau - 150
Hockin - 60
Weatherhead - 10
Vice President External Affairs:
Appleton - 80
Henderson - 26
Horne - 44
MaGee - 64
Constitution:
Yes - 146
No - 43
Journal:
Yes - 154
No - 55
Polling Station #2: "Science" - First Count
This was the second station to report in. It didn't take very long.
President:
Anderson - 35
El-Darahali - 29
Fullerton - 6
Haggart - 17
Vice President Administration:
Cameron - 34
Holland - 7
Innes - 17
Marshall - 11
Schofield - 12
Vice President Student Affairs:
Deveau - 52
Hockin - 23
Weatherhead - 5
Vice President External Affairs:
Appleton - 17
Henderson - 7
Horne - 22
MaGee - 31
Constitution:
Yes - 51
No - 18
Journal:
Yes - 51
No - 23
Polling Station #6: "Gerard" - First Count
Mercifully, the counters skipped ahead to one of the residences. This
count gives an indication of what is on the minds of the frosh these days.
I guess I forgot to record the referendum count here.
President:
Anderson - 9
El-Darahali - 8
Fullerton - 4
Haggart - 39
Vice President Administration:
Cameron - 21
Holland - 0
Innes - 5
Marshall - 22
Schofield - 12
Vice President Student Affairs:
Deveau - 21
Hockin - 35
Weatherhead - 5
Vice President External Affairs:
Appleton - 30
Henderson - 4
Horne - 16
MaGee - 10
Constitution:
Yes - ?
No - ?
Journal:
Yes - ?
No - ?
I'll come back and post the totals later. Right now, I've got a Physical Geography class to attend - this stuff took a while to post! =)
Monday, February 12th, 1214h - FINALLY!
Well, it's nice to be able
to post an update before the executive election is done with. I've been
locked out since friday morning; any wonder I want my own proper website?
The voting has begun, and
will continue on into tomorrow, so if you couldn't make it down, don't
worry about it. I voted in the Science Building to throw off the people
who will be making predictions while the early returns come in.
Stuff I was going to talk
about earlier: The opening of the Dr. Ken Ozmon Student Boardroom (that's
why I was dressed up on friday), the SRC meeting on sunday, and the looong
rehearsal later that afternoon. But there's not much left that seems to
be worth talking about.
Let's talk about me instead.
=) I am about to embark upon what will probably be the hardest week academically
I've ever shoved through. Tonight: Phone my Aunt Shirley about going to
P.E.I., then phone Working Designs about the fact that there is packaging
glue all over my Lunar: Eternal Blue COMPLETE soundtrack cd. Then I'll
start my laundry, and start work on my Human Geography paper on vegetation
which is due tomorrow. If I can get that done, the rest of the week will
be easy.
Tuesday is nice and simple:
Go to yet another rehearsal, then read up for my Classics midterm. Wednesday
isn't bad either: rehearse again, then do my Human Geography Web Exercise
(in fact, I'll do that at school). I'll also do a *second* revision of
the material that I'll be submitting to the English Society's Creative
Writing Anthology. At home the real work kicks in: Clean my room,
do more laundry, and pack up for Friday.
Thursday will be somewhat
trickier, as I have to complete an English paper, but that will be easy
compared to the hell I'm about to sail into tonight with Human Geography.
And on Friday I take advantage of a cancelled Classics class, go home early,
and grab the 5:00 shuttle to P.E.I..
I have two more midterms
to do this week (Astronomy and Classics), but those don't worry me in the
least.
Friday, February 9th, 1031h - A KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOUR?
As I sit here in the McNally
computer lab this February Friday morning - wearing my sport coat, dress
shirt and pants, and tie - I wonder about an experience I had last night
waiting for the bus on Spring Garden Road. I often have interesting experiences
there, but this one really bothers me.
As I stood in the alcove
in front of the secondary entrance to the Lord Nelson Hotel, a girl who
looked about 17 went up to the group of Arabic-speakers and asked if she
was being called a slut. (Now that I think more about it, she was probably
drunk and they probably weren't calling her down; but of course they did
quite openly from that point on.) Her eyes got watery, and she soon confessed
that she had just broken up with her boyfriend of "one and a half years",
and that they were hurting her feelings.
I felt terribly sorry for
her, and I still do even though she was drunk. She eventually walked away
crying, after asking some guys if they would beat the Arabic-speaking young
men up for her. Fortunately, she was the only one there being stupid (I
was stupidly thinking she was in the right too, but I didn't act much on
it.).
I didn't do anything at
all, because if I have learned something about disputes among strangers
over the years it is don't get involved. Well, actually, I did do
something; I did say to the guys, "You made a complete stranger cry, and
you're happy about that?" I wanted to do more. I wanted to go up to her
and ask what was troubling her. I didn't for two reasons: 1 - It's not
socially acceptable to do so. 2 - The bus I had been waiting for for the
past 55 minutes finally got there.
I just wish I could be someone's
knight in shining armour, but it looks as though I'll never get the opportunity.
What should I do?
Thursday, February 8th, 2056h - THE TURNOUT WAS VERY GOOD CONSIDERING
STUDENT INTEREST IN THE ELECTION
Trust me, as soon as school
lets out I am going to turn this place upside down. The new super-mega-hyper
website will become something of a legend; completely transcending the
traditional scopes and bounds of normal personal home pages.
Yes, do come back here sometime
near the end of April if you're not going to be coming back for regular
visits until then, for I shall astound you. But let's talk about the highly-successful
candidates forum in the T'Aud today. At least six people showed up to hear
what the dressed-up executive candidates had to say; and if that wasn't
enough, there was free food, which are two words you don't hear very often
at Saint Mary's. The planned debate was cancelled, allowing me to head
back to the library to peruse - purely for academic interest, of course
- some writings on coitus, and eventually complete my "Researchworks"
Physical Geography library assignment, then take out some books for my
'rhetoric-free' Human Geography essay.
Curiously, over thirty people
showed up on the lower level of Gerard Hall for a forum earlier this week;
showing that some of the frosh really are interested in the political goings-on
in this university.
Wednesday, February 7th, 2130h - ARGH! GEOGRAPHY!
It's getting late, so I
guess I'd better post my promised "daily update" before I leave campus.
I just finished that Geography Assignment. They wouldn't take so long to
do if Dr. Conrad could clarify what she wants to see you do a little more.
=)
I'm not going to criticize
the
woman, though, because she relaxed her usual 10% lateness penalty and is
letting me get away with 5%. For the opportunity to pass in high quality
work, I can live with that.
The next academic item on
the horizon that worries me is my Human Geography paper about the impact
of humans on vegetation. That sucker is due on tuesday, but it's not the
writing of the paper I'm worried about (that's the easy part!), it's the
research. I imagine all the books are taken.
I also have a three midterms
next week: Physical Geography on the 12th, Astronomy on the 13th, Classics
on the 14th... and of course I shouldn't forget about my English paper
due on the 16th, but that doesn't worry me at all. Next week is going to
be... fun.
Enough about me, though.
Let's talk some more about the candidates. There will be a debate / meet-and-greet
event in the Theatre Auditorium tomorrow from 3pm to 6pm. I have added
this information to the schedule. I have also picked up a copy of the referendum
question, and I stress that any missing question marks or commas are
solely the mistakes of The Journal. (They make so many grammatical
errors sometimes that it looks kind of unprofessional, but they've been
improving over the recent weeks. I blame the fact that they're up too late
tuesday nights putting the newspaper together.)
To effectively sustain your campus newspaper "The Journal," do you agree to a contribution of $4.00 per student per year
Oh, I forgot to say something about the candidates! Well, they are very busy people. Rehearsals and classes and Geography assignment deadlines just have to be missed. =) Take nothing away from them, though. They're all good people. Heck, so are the people at The Journal, even though they seem to be behaving strangely! Let's stop this SRC versus Journal staff madness, okay?
Tuesday, February 6th - SLUSH
Those ever-brave bigwigs
at Stock Transportation have apparently decided to pull the public school
busses off the roads today; what a bunch of cowards. Bad weather should
be seen as an adventure! And all there is out here is a bit of slush -
it doesn't hamper the driving much; but my feet got wet walking into the
Burke Building this morning, where I found that my Human Geography class
had been cancelled.
Going in, I've noticed that
the other executive candidates are making a last-ditch effort to hone in
on Wendy Innes near-exclusive coverage of the Burke and Science buildings.
Even taking in the university as a whole, Wendy still seems to have the
jump on everyone in terms of poster coverage, though I am sure there are
those who would argue that I am wrong.
Something else I've noticed:
Every single 8½ X 11 poster I've seen is on colored paper. Is there
a reason for this? I was planning to use plain black-on-white; I feel it
looks sharper and more professional. There must be something I'm not picking
up on.
As soon as I post this,
I'm going to have something to eat and then work on my Physical Geography
assignment until 6, when I have a rehearsal. If you haven't heard already,
I'm playing Giles Corey in The Crucible. I wanted to be Reverend
Hale, but Giles Corey is fine. Less lines to memorize.
Monday, February 5th - ASSESSMENTS AND WITHDRAWALS
I should probably tell you
now that I decided on Friday who all my Vice Presidential votes would go
to. So all these posters are useless for me! Useless! Haha! =) Posters:
there are a lot of them.
Supposedly assessments are
up this year; this website that cost me $10 in imaginary money last year
now costs $75. Ouch! Considering the very small number of people who actually
visit personal web sites nowadays, I think the 'cost' is grossly unreasonable.
The CRO is also having loads
of fun taking down what seems like hundreds (well, tens, anyway) of posters
that have mysteriously landed in inappropriate places, such as the first
floor of Gerard Hall, Society bulletin boards, and the Loyola Skywalk.
What are they assessed at, anyway? $6 each? Uh-oh!
The extreme 'cost' of holding
a website even remotely related to my campaign has made me wonder if having
one is worth the bother. For an executive campaign with a 'budget' of $250,
perhaps; but what about my upcoming SRC campaign with a $100 ceiling? What
the heck, I'll do it anyway, if only to infuriate the CRO. It's not his
fault this system seems unfair to me, but to what other place can I direct
my protests?
I maintain that my website
is my own property; and that, by principle, I should be free to publish
whatever I like within the bounds of good taste. (Personally, I consider
artful feminine nudity to be within those bounds, but I'd rather avoid
entering into a philosophical argument with Crosswinds at this point.)
In my opinion, election regulations should ONLY come into effect if I'm
using the actual university resources (ie: the buildings) or anything related.
I am upset.
Of course, though, I must
consider the other side of the issue: What if some smart person were to
come along and PROPERLY utilize a website to its fullest extent? Haha,
well that probably won't happen.
Okay, to the election news.
I have found information about one additional 'slate' (here, it only means
coordinated campaigning between friends), and received the news that Olsen
Christian has withdrawn from Vice President Student Affairs.
Also, today I have heard
people saying that they don't care who wins the executive elections, and
even that student's wouldn't notice the difference if no one held the positions.
I hope that isn't true. On another positive note, the tentative exam schedule
was released. All the dates are tentative (WHY oh WHY can't there be an
option to write them all in one day?!?!), which is a fancy way of saying
that they are subject to change if some whiny ditz complains that she had
plans to go to Porto Viarto that week. Then we all find out who she is
and 'convince' her to cancel her travel plans. Should be fun.
Sunday, February 4th - OPENING DAY
This is it, folks. In just
a few hours from now, the candidates for the SMUSA executive positions
will meet in the SMUSA boardroom with the Chief Returning Officer, his
deputy, and our friends from The Journal.
This election is looking
to be one of the biggest in recent memory. Recent salary and work week
increases for the Executive may have helped to pry open the floodgate of
candidates; but I don't believe for a moment that any of these people are
in it for the money.
There will also be other
things on the ballot this time around - rumor has it there will be a constitutional
vote, as well as a decision on whether or not The Journal should go splits
from the Students' Association. I will pass the official information on
to you within the next couple of days. Hmm... when it comes to elections,
I seem to have way more coverage than The Journal. =)
Speaking of The Journal,
I'd like to make something clear: I was not able to attend the SRC meeting
spoken of in last week's editorial. I also think that the editorial was
slightly one-sided, as there are a few SRC members (such as myself) who
read The Journal religiously. The issue was this: They wanted out of the
Students' Association, but still wanted guaranteed funding. Okay, but supposedly
(this is just a rumor really, as I wasn't there) they claim that SMUSA
tries to censor them... hahahahaha that is SO not true. Look up something
called "Hubris" in the back issues if you need proof. =) So my stand is
this: I like things just the way they are.
Alright, enough hearsay,
let's get on to the long list of candidates (up to date as of 7:06pm, 02/02/2001
on the list posted in the SUB library). Here we go:
For President: (position currently held
by Liam Arbuckle, Jon's cousin from the Garfield comic strip - kidding!)
Samantha Anderson (Vice
President External Affairs)
Saeed El-Darahali
David Fullerton
Christian Haggart (Vice
President Administration)
For Vice President Administration: (position currently held by
Christian Haggart)
Matthew Cameron
Kevin Holland
Wendy Innes (SRC - Science
Representative)
David Marshall
Chad Schofield (SRC - Chairman)
For Vice President Student Affairs: (position currently held
by Michael Thorbourne)
Olsen
Christian (SRC - International Representative) [WITHDRAWN as of
02/05/2001]
Paul Deveau
Tim Hockin
Tom Weatherhead (SRC - Commerce
Representative)
For Vice President External Affairs: (position currently held
by Samantha Anderson)
Ian Appleton
Doug Henderson (SRC - Off
Campus Representative)
Peter Horne
Michelle MaGee
Known slates as of 02/05/2001:
Chad Schofield (VPA), Tom Weatherhead (VPSA), Doug Henderson (VPEA)
Christian Haggart (P), David Marshall (VPA), Tim Hockin (VPSA), Ian
Appleton (VPEA)
- There may be more slates, so please check back here in the coming
days as I get more information.
Elections Schedule as of 02/07/2001:
Friday, February 2nd, 2001 - SMUSA Executive nominations close.
Sunday, February 4th, 2001 - Meeting of candidates; campaign begins.
Thursday, February 8th, 2001 - Candidates forum. (1500h-1800h, T'AUD)
Friday, February 9th, 2001 - Campaign ends.
Monday, February 12th, 2001 - Election day.
Tuesday, February 13th, 2001 - Another election day for the latecomers.
=)
Saturday, February 17th, 2001 - "Reading" week begins.
Sunday, February 25th, 2001 - "Reading" week ends.
Monday, February 26th, 2001 - SRC nominations open.
Friday, March 2nd, 2001 - SRC nominations close.
Sunday, March 4th, 2001 - Meeting of candidates; campaign begins.
Friday, March 9th, 2001 - Campaign ends.
Monday, March 12th, 2001 - Election day. (tired of this yet?)
Tuesday, March 13th, 2001 - At LAST! The FINAL election day!
Friday, March 30th, 2001 - Last day of classes. Let's just write our
exams and get the hell out of here. =)
Thank you for your time. See you around campus!