Colleen McCarrick
Staff Reporter
Campaigning is over, votes have been cast and the winners decided. After a highly unusual election process, the McDaniel College Freshmen Class President was declared to be Matthew Berube.Berube takes office alongside newly elected vice president, Mae Alexander, and Class Representative, Scott Camuto.
On Friday, September 12, the initial Class Officers election was held. Little did the Student Government Association, Class Officer Candidates, or freshmen voters know what this election would bring. Four freshmen, Berube, Stephen Steinberg, Erica Emmelhainz, and Tom Nelson ran a phenomenally close race for the Class President position.
Evidently, the freshmen voters considered all the candidates well qualified. After the initial day of voting the election was declared a three-way tie. But the three-way tie also unearthed an oversight in the election process. According to the SGA constitution, the election was supposed to last three days, at times convenient to the students. Hence, the one-day election held was unconstitutional.
“A lot of times groups and administrations act out of habit and tradition versus consulting the rule book when making every move,” said Dave Castle, SGA president. “None of us had ever been a part of a three day election, so when we had our traditional one day election nobody thought anything of it.”
The SGA intended for the poll times to be assessable for all students. Castle commented, “It’s tough to make three hours in the middle of the day inconvenient, between students coming and going from classes and eating at the dining hall, it is probably the most opportune time to draw the largest crowd.”
However, the several of the candidates argued that the times set up were untimely. Berube said, “I myself and a lot of students I talked to had classes. It was difficult for some students to make it to the polls.”
Steinberg considered the inconvenient poll times a factor in the three-way tie. “Too bad my friends couldn’t actually vote,” he said.
Once the misinterpretation of the constitution was discovered, the SGA was quick to remedy the wrong. They added two additional voting days the following week. “I appreciate the effort SGA put forward and I think they did the best job they could,” said Berube.
In fact, the additional voting days increased voter participation by more than 25%, broke the presidential tie and gave the vice president candidate in the lead a “run for her money,” Castle said.
Berube was honored to be elected President of McDaniel’s Class of 2012. He thinks that his peers ultimately elected him to office because of his former experience with government, and his passion for politics.
“Some of them really look up to me and believe that I would be a good leader,” he said.
Berube said his goals as President are simple: “to serve as a voice of my class to other groups that SGA deals with.”
Despite the mishaps in this year’s election, the Freshmen Class Officers are excited about working together as part of the McDaniel College Student Government. “I’m looking forward to learning the system,” Berube said, “and meeting the people who make this school work.”
Any students with questions and concerns regarding the Assembly are more than welcome to join the SGA on Thursday nights for committee meetings, which are open to the student body.