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Fall Election '00 - William's Log
See my Office Hours.
See my Final Report.
Everyone won, eh? Just check the candidates list.
See the "about me" article for The Journal.
See the candidates for... everything.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the log page for the Fall 2000 SRC Elections. Slightly biased because I'm running for First Year Rep. You could call this my Campaign Headquarters.

Thursday, September 28th - FINAL REPORT
        Well, I had a chat with some people in SMUSA back on Tuesday, and I've come to the conclusion that their ruling was probably a good idea. My rant on Monday's entry was written up during the heat of things, and my initial impressions really weren't based on both sides of the story. But anyway, it doesn't matter anymore.
        I have indeed 'won' the election, and so have all the other candidates. I don't even want to bother writing up a new list when you can just read the one below. Thank you all for voting.
        Unlike the rigged vice-presidential elections at C.P. Allen; at the SMUSA elections you get to have a scrutineer and the results are actually distributed. I am told that I won by a narrow margin: just shy of 69% voted 'yes' for William Matheson, only 3% past the minimum requirement of 66%. However, these slightly disappointing numbers mean little since most people tended to vote in random patterns as I am told: they might circle 'yes' for the top two names and 'no' for the bottom two and vice-versa; people also tended to vote 'yes' for Bugden or Hamilton and ignore Paris and I. Curious, that, because Shane Paris is one of the most recognized political figures on campus, second only to Liam Arbuckle.
        I am also plauged with the problem of not being recognized, which probably also played a role. A grand total of four people recognized me as being the Frosh Rep candidate from The Journal, and only one person noticed my posters.
        But I shouldn't be dwelling on all this - the important thing is that I won this electon fair and square without any big song or dance. I would have taken a loss here as a sign from the heavens that politics ain't my thing and that I should go back to writing bad scripts. =) And more importantly, I can now begin to help you find the answers you seek.

William Matheson's 'Office' Hours: 2:00pm - 5:00pm every Wednesday | I realize that having my three weekly office hours in a run might be inconvenient, but I need to eat. =) So drop in and see me on the 5th floor of the SUB anytime during those hours. You can tell me about your problems, point out issues that you or your friends have been facing, or just chat with me about hockey. That's what I'm there for.

        In conclusion, I would like to extend my deepest thanks and appreciation to Krissane Landry for her excellent service as my ballot scrutineer. I never before realized the importance of the role, and I am glad that I asked someone who cared to do it for me, for I was prepared to ask anyone who was free Tuesday evening. =) Thank you ever so very much.

Monday, September 25th - DAMN...
        Guess what? They're making me (well, by the time you read this, it'll be 'they made me') take down my election logs until the election is over. It counts as campaign material that was supposed to be removed by 5:00pm last night, and they're assessing me a fifty dollar fine to my imaginary budget. Damn. Well naturally I have no choice but to cooperate, but I'm not sure I appreciate my web site being subjected to such official scrutiny. But if I'm going to even mention the fact that I'm a candidate for something, I have to claim the 'expense'. Who the hell made these rules up?! I'm actually kind of pissed off, because this is my website, my domain, and I hate being told what I can and can't say. Well, at least the guy on the other end of the line wasn't mean about it...
        Well, they can't silence me totally. I'll keep writing these logs, even if they can't go online! =)

Sunday, September 24th - ALL IS QUIET
        So far a grand total of three people have recognized me as the Frosh Rep candidate. It's really the best I could hope for. I've witten the first couple of pages of Sages of Time - Part Five. I don't think I'll be finishing The Start of a Long Snooze anytime soon, but I might do it tomorrow, you never know. And I got those posters down Friday night. On a not-so-unrelated topic, Campus Security really needs to get their building closure times straight between their personnel.

Wednesday, September 20th, 2000 - OKAY, NOW THERE ARE SOME UP
        Well, despite what I said I never got down there Monday morning or afternoon because I was just too tired from all the work on my webpage; I actually went to sleep until 4pm. When I was down for my classes on Tuesday, however, I found time to put up a ton of posters. You should all be able to find at least a few if you ever look at the bulletin boards. =) Oh, and I did the coolest thing yesterday morning: I was on the 80 passing Mount Saint Vincent, and boy, was it ever crowded in there. Anyway, so I'm looking behind me and I see the 18 bringing up the rear and I get an idea. At the next stop I see people holding out for the 18 (that is, both the 80 and the 18 come to a halt in the same place, avoiding the risk of having the 18 just zoom right by), I hop right off and switch to the 18. Ha-ha! So now I have a seat, get to disembark right at the university, and on top of all that I'm there slightly earlier even though we stop at the Mumford Terminal. Sweet. Of course, the people I was travelling with... suffice it to say, I got them a little worried. When they got off at the corner of Spring Garden and Robie, Krissane Landry (my official SRC ballot scrutineer) and her boyfriend thought I had fallen asleep on the bus! It really was that crowded, there was no way they could have seen me disembark. Tonight: I finish my poster-hanging (I only have 5 left) and attend the Drama Society's Director's Workshop at the SUB Cafeteria. Right now: I try to finish composing "The Start of a Long Snooze", which should turn out to be an important piece of work, albeit the ending will be somewhat rushed. Thanks everyone, for just reading all this!

Monday, September 18th, 2000 - POSTERS TO GO UP
        Later this morning I'll be taking a trip down to the campus to hang up some posters. I could have hung them up yesterday after 5, but I needed to meet my family at the Swiss Chalet on Kempt Road, so after the meeting I went down to Barrington Street and caught the 9.

Sunday, September 17th, 2000 - OPENING DAY
        At 5:00 today, the campaigns officially began. Posters will be going up, and people will be talking.
        Ah, but this is no ordinary election! This is an election that is completely without opponents! All the four of us need is a 67% "yes" vote, and we're in. But getting that vote is by no means assured. People have lost yes/no votes at SMU before. In that respect, I think I would have liked to have an opponent for the position I seek, rather than face what really is a popularity contest. I have visions of former CPA students lining up to vote against me. My carrer is on the line, folks. Help! =)
        But I need to relax. With a good campaign, and a little luck, I can win this thing. And here's what you need to know about the candidates:

For First Year Rep:
        William Matheson

For Engineering Rep:
        Dave Bugden

For Arts Rep:
        Shawn Hamilton

and finally, for Graduating Rep:
        Shane Paris

This afternoon at 5 we all had a meeting with Dave Marshall, the Chief Electoral Officer. He told us all about the various rules and regulations, then we got our pictures taken for The Journal, SMU's weekly newspaper. We also passed in our profiles, if we had them completed. In fact, you can download the exact file I gave them right here:

Download / View wm-src.txt (2.48K, plain-text) You really need to view this in something with word-wrap capability, so Netscape alone won't cut it. Right-click on the link and select Save Link As... or Save As..., then head for NotePad, or better yet, EditPad.

The rules mostly circulate around three issues: Where your posters are going and if they're stamped, your campaign "budget", and when to quit campaigning. They're good rules. This is the big time, now.

Now you'll want to know what I mean by "budget". Every candidate in the fall election has a theoretical spending limit of 100 dollars. For every material you add to your campaign, money is deducted from this total. When you hit zero dollars, that's it. I like this system a lot. This web page runs at a 'cost' of ten dollars. (The use of e-mail is completely prohibited.) Letter-sized posters run at 25 cents each. That covers my spending. Oddities on the list include writing in the snow, which is assessed at a whopping 25 dollars. (Sadly, the first and last person to try this ended up losing anyway!) If and when down the road I run for President, I'm curious to know what he'd assess a campaign video at. Also, SMUSA executive candidates (in the spring elections) have a much larger "budget": Around 250 dollars.

But enough of rules already. Since we have no opponents, I therefore encourage myself and my fellow candidates to relax and have fun with this. I also encourage all of you to get out there and show your campus spirit and enthusiasm by voting "yes" for all of us. Be a part of the whimsy! =) Thank you.

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