UPDATE at 5 p.m. Friday:
Minutes after the online polls for this week’s Student Government Association elections closed Friday, SGA officials made the following statement on their Facebook page:
“After a thorough study of the rules, the election commissioner has disqualified Charlie Dankert and Marleen Abdelnour for multiple violations of the election rules. These rules were approved by the Office of Student Activities, Residence Life, and SGA congress on Monday, March 11th, 2013. All four of the candidates signed the document stating that they understood and would abide by the rules. The infractions were reviewed by the election commissioner, the current SGA president and advisor. As a result of the disqualification, the ticket was taken off the ballot on Thursday afternoon. SGA is also releasing the exact number of votes casted for both parties at the time of the disqualification in order to ensure legitimacy of the next presidency and vice presidency for 2013-2014.”
Of those 636 votes, Chase Geiser and Emily Young received 355 of them, or 55.81 percent. Dankert and Abdelnour received 277 words including write-ins, counting for 43.55 percent of the vote.
When asked via text message what specific policies were violated by Dankert and Abdelnour, election administrator Sarah Currey did not immediately respond.
PREVIOUSLY REPORTED:
Charlie Dankert and Marleen Abdelnour were disqualified from Student Government Association elections Thursday, therefore ensuring Chase Geiser’s and Emily Young’s election as the organization’s president and vice president.
Dankert and Abdelnour announced their removal from the ballot through a video on their campaign’s Facebook page Thursday afternoon. Dankert acknowledged several infractions on his campaign’s part in the video, but did not specify which violations occurred.
“It was never our intent to break the rules, but they were broken, and we take full responsibility for that,” Dankert said in the video.
When reached for comment, Dankert said he wanted the video to stand as the campaign’s official response about the matter, but wished Geiser and Young the best in their leadership roles.
Both elections administrator Sarah Currey and SGA president Jim Darter also declined to comment on the situation, but Darter said a statement about it would be released in the near future.
Geiser, a rising senior, and Young, a rising junior, are now the only candidates left in an election that will continue to take place through Friday.
“The victory is bittersweet, given the circumstances,” Geiser said in a text message. “But Emily and I are thrilled to have the privilege to serve the students as their next president and vice president.”
Staff writer Will Hadden contributed to this report.