Gabriella Lewis/Managing Editor
The Student Government Association (SGA) Elections Board recently voted to postpone elections after an administrative delay in certifying candidate eligibility, according to SGA President Noah Marchuck (24C).
Voting will be open from noon on Feb. 24 until noon on Feb. 27, three days later than originally scheduled, SGA Elections Board Chair Annie Skelton (21Ox, 23C) wrote in an email to the Wheel. Campaigning began on Feb 14. Students can expect to receive a link to vote through their school emails.
“Before we do elections, we typically do a check of the candidates just to make sure that they have no conduct violations,” Marchuck said. “After editing the Code of Elections, we decided that we’re gonna do these conduct checks typically before campaigning, just so that people don’t get disqualified in the middle of it and feel like their time has been wasted.”
SGA election delays are not an uncommon occurrence, Skelton wrote, noting that last year’s election was postponed a month after the initial timeline was selected.
The 2023 delay is a precautionary move, she added.
“While campaigning could have begun without candidacy being certified, the Board thought it would be more disruptive for a candidate to possibly be pulled out of the election mid-campaigning rather than to delay the start of campaigning by three days,” Skelton wrote.
SGA Ranking Member and Presidential Candidate Khegan Meyers (24B) affirmed his trust in the Board’s decision, stating that they have worked hard to ensure that every candidate is eligible to run before a student puts their time and effort into a campaign.
“I am happy they worked to change the elections code this year, including by being open to a legislator petition to remove the full-time enrollment requirement to be consistent with the Student Constitution,” Meyers wrote in an email to the Wheel. “I believe they are maintaining consistency with student demands, including those written by the Wheel last year.”
College Council Third Year Legislature and SGA Presidential Candidate MaKenzie Jones (22Ox, 24C) agreed, adding that, despite how early the election timeline is compared to previous years, the Board is “holding themselves accountable” to ensure that everything is “up to the standards” outlined in the Code of Elections. Last year’s election was held from March 22 to March 25.
“The Elections Board is working as hard as they can during this time and I wish them well during this stressful season,“ Jones wrote in an email to the Wheel.
Below are the candidates for this year’s election cycle:
SGA president: MaKenzie Jones (22Ox, 24C), Rizky Lubis (24C) and Khegan Meyers (24B)
SGA vice president: Abigail Dubinski (25B), Andrew Yang (23Ox) and Jayden Davis (25B)
College Council president: Neha Murthy (24C) and Daniel Nadel (25C)
College Council vice president: Muhammad Sami (25C)
College Council second year legislator: Rob Golin (26C), Rachel Alpert-Wisnia (26C), Raina Nagpal (26C), Taimin Liao (26C), Sophie Kalmin (26C) and Matthew Veerasammy (26C)
College Council third year legislator: Ada Demling (25C), Michelle Tucker (25C), Veronica Vargas (25C) and Corinne Phillips (25C)
College Council fourth year legislator: Cyprian Dumas (24C), Arden Chan (22Ox, 24C), Orion Jones (24C) and Ben Arnoldsen Crawford (24C)
BBA president: Michael Chan (22Ox, 24B) and Natalia Szalay (24B)
BBA vice president: Liam O’Sullivan (24B), Lily Short (24B) and Rhea Mishra (22Ox, 24B)
BBA SGA representative: Aidan Baris (25B), Ibrahim Jouja (22Ox, 25B) and Sneha Galani (24B)
BBA senior representative: Amanda Meyer (24B)
BBA junior representative: Ankita Acharya (22Ox, 25C), Liesl Scherrer (25B), Jason Abreu (25B) and Jacob No (25B)
SGA presidential candidate Rizky Lubis (24C) did not respond for comment by press time.
Executive Editor Matthew Chupack (24C) had no role in writing or editing this article due to conflicts of interest with candidates.
Update (2/15/23 at 10:34 p.m.): A previous version of this article stated that BBA SGA vice president was one of the positions in the election. In fact, the position is BBA SGA representative. Additionally, the previous version stated that College Council Fourth Year Legislator Candidate Orion Jones’ graduation year as 25C. In fact, his year is 24C. Lastly, the article misspelled the names of candidates as Muhammed Sami (25C), Taimin Lao (26C), Sophie Kalman (26C), Matthew Veersasammy (26C) and Ankita Archarya (22Ox, 25C). In fact, their names are spelled Muhammad Sami, Taimin Liao, Sophie Kalmin, Matthew Veerasammy and Ankita Acharya, respectively.
Update (2/15/23 at 11:48 p.m.): A previous version of this article stated that SGA Vice Presidential Candidate Jayden Davis’ graduation year as 25B, 26C. In fact, his year is 25B.
Nica Leung (she/her, 26C) is from Portland, Ore., and is majoring in political science and anthropology on the pre-law track. Outside of the Wheel, she can be found inhaling matcha lattes at Kaldi's, playing Neko Atsume, exploring the Emory arts scene or spending time with friends.
