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After two days of voting, we have over 3,000 votes cast in this election, with just one day to go. The 2012 three-day total has already been shattered by 400 in just two days! I attribute that to many sources, but not limited to increased media coverage, our Rock the Vote campaign, the current administration, and more effective campaigning strategies from both tickets. If you still haven’t voted yet, you still can on Thursday in either the Shenandoah Room in the Lair, the Rec Center, or Brooks Hall 1st Floor Hallway.

Not sure who to vote for? Read up on one of our blog posts where the Presidents square off on the same questions concerning SGA, their platforms, and the University as a whole. For the Board of Governors and Athletic Council, the candidate’s bios are located on their campaign websites; check our home page for a link to each campaign.

After three days of voting, the focus will switch to the counting and announcement of the results. For those of you experienced with how SGA has announced in the past, it included something to the extent of waiting multiple hours. Finally, the election chair would walk up to the podium in the lair food court, and then, much like an awards show, the names of the newly elected would have been slowly read (boring). We all know how awards shows like the Academy Awards are (anticlimactic and boring). This year is going to be different (exciting); this is a real election, so we will announce the results like a real election (even more exciting!).

Anyone who has watched presidential elections in the past knows how news channels, like CNN with Wolf Blitzer tend to make each announcement as exciting as the next in terms of what state will go for which candidate. These channels have nice maps and graphs and make it a very interactive experience for the viewer. This year, the elections committee wants to mimic that as much as possible for this election. Sadly, Mr. Blitzer declined our invitation; however, long gone are the days of anticlimactic awards show- like announcements! The results for each voting location will be announced in real time once they are tabulated.

How will this look you may ask?

Let’s Break it down: There are six precincts for this election as follows; Mountainlair, Rec Center, Engineering, Health Science, Brooks Hall, and last but not least, the absentee voters. Each of these precincts will be counted and as soon as the precinct total is known, will be released. Released where?! To answer your question, we will be in the Food Court area of the Mountainlair starting at 7pm to begin announcing these results. The elections chairs will announce results and the projector will continuously update totals for each of the three races: President/Vice President, Board of Governors and Athletic Council. We’ll even have nifty tables and pie charts!

Who doesn’t love a good pie chart?

 

So either pull up a chair in the Lair, or at your computer desk, because you’ll definitely be on the edge of it all night. Follow the @WVUSGA, SGA’s offical twitter account as we will be live tweeting results as well! It’s a perfect way to finish off an election that has already seen significant positive changes in the voting process. Now we are going to make the announcement the greatest event of the whole campaign season! Wear your campaign t-shirt, or better yet, your sweet Rock the Vote tee.

So let’s finish this election off tomorrow with hundreds, even a thousand more votes cast, and a rockin’ good time at the announcement party.

Get excited folks.

It’s heating up!

After kicking off a great first week of campaigning, T.H.E. Party, headed by governors Christian Guy and Andrea Mucino, and The Revolution Party headed by current governor Ryan Campione and former governor Benjamin Seebaugh are continuing to campaign for support around campus. We’ve been doing some work of our own, polling students on who they are supporting, and continuing some of the great initiatives of our current administration such as the campus wide  cleanup that occured this weekend.

As for early polls, the response was very targeted and rapid, as we launched two questions from our twitter account with crowd based analytical software powered by PopTip.   Our first question generated a very small response, as it launched the first day of campaigning and ran until 11:59 pm on Monday, February 18th. We asked our followers which ticket was their early favorite, and with 77.1% of the vote, The Revolution Party won our first poll.

After publishing our president’s interview, (located here), we asked who our readers which presidential candidate they were leaning towards. This poll ran only 12 hours, but generated 509 responses, which was over 54% of our twitter followers. The poll was much more exciting to watch, as Christian Guy & T.H.E. Party came out with an early lead, however the Ryan Campione & The Revolution Party bounced back and took the lead and the poll with 54.3% of the vote. Make sure to follow us (@wvusga) so you dont miss out on our next poll!

 

As for current initiatives with SGA, this weekend we hosted our campus cleanup event.  Greek and other various student organizations came  together to clean up trash and recycle around campus. It was a refereshing break from the campaign trail, and left parts of campus clean with tons of trash collected to be recycled.

Remember that tomorrow is our annual SGA election debate. It will be hosted in the Mountainlair at 6PM, and we will be live streaming  the entire event. We hope to see you there supporting your favorite candidates!

 

Ryan Campione – The Revolution Ticket.

Alright Ryan, let’s start with some ice breakers.

If you could be one superhero, which would you be and why?

– I would want to be a superhero that can stop time. That way I could accomplish more work overall while also having enough time to sleep now and then.

What’s your favorite quote?

- “Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.” – Peter Drucker

Sweet, now that we’re warmed up, let’s get technical. Why did you choose to run for SGA President?

– I have had the honor to be involved in Student Government over the last four years in college, through which I have been able to help make a significant impact on the University’s Residence Halls, Dining Options, and everyday lives of Students. However I believe that a lot more can still be improved within the University for Student’s and thus I wanted to tackle the issue of student support during difficult times. I felt that in the role of Student Body President I could be an effective leader in working to solve this major issue and many other student concerns within WVU beyond what I can currently do as a Board of Governors member.

How about you and Ben, why did you decide to run together?

– Benjamin Seebaugh and I both helped to found Student Advocates for Legislative Advancement (SALA) and push a Student written bill on through the West Virginia Legislature to pass giving West Virginias more tenant rights across the state. Based on our cohesive teamwork through that experience and many other positive ones like it in Student Government we felt that we could make a great team to help lead the Student Body.

How did you pick your party name?

– Our name was voted upon and decided by the candidate members of our ticket. As a group we wanted to name our campaign something that would both symbolize our overall vision for Student Government and be relatable to students. We felt that our campaign’s goals were bigger than just those of traditional SGA elections and therefore we needed to be more than a political party. Instead, we strive to be a student movement across the University.

What do you think is the biggest difference between your ticket and the opposition?

– Our campaigns’ are fundamentally different on how we approach solving students’ issues within the University. We believe that rather than continuing how Student Government has been run, we need to revolutionize the way in which students are represented on campus. Students’ should feel more included and informed about issues on campus and how Student Government is approaching them. We are demonstrating many of these beliefs through our campaign by asking student’s to let us know of their concerns beyond just our platforms by writing them down on a publicly displayed whiteboard or tweeting them with the hashtag #WVUNeeds. In addition our candidates have each already met with members of the WVU administration and have realistic solutions to common problems that affect every demographic of students at WVU.

 

What would you say  is the biggest lesson you have learned from SGA?

– That nothing is impossible to improve at West Virginia University. When students’ voices collectively come together, whether it be in demonstration against the Residence Hall Visitation Policy or in need for better facilities, the University will listen. As students we have the greatest say when we all speak up.

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Christian Guy – T.H.E. Party

Alright Christian, let’s start small here.

If you could be one superhero, which would you be and why?

-Captain America, because I love my country just as much as I love WVU.

What’s your favorite quote?

-  “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

Ok, now for the serious stuff. Why did you chose to run for SGA President?

-       I can’t even describe in words how much WVU has given to me; my family, friends, and education. Having an opportunity to give back to this great university is something that I have been striving towards since I was admitted into WVU. It feels amazing knowing that I have already taken steps to better the university in my term as governor, and I hope to continue to better this university next year as President.

How did you and Andrea decide to run together?

-       Andrea has a similar love for WVU as I do, her parents were both foreign exchange students and she was born and raised in Morgantown. Not only has she been around mountaineer spirit her whole life, but this year as a governor she worked really hard to further her platform. I am confident that once we are elected she will put in just as much, if not more, hard work into our platform.

How did you pick your party name?

-       We wanted to keep the name short and simple, yet professional and fun.  The idea for the name “THE Party” came to us during a brainstorming session and it just stuck. Our ticket as a whole is trusted, hardworking, and experienced. Each candidate on our ticket has already shown wonderful leadership skills in the student organizations they are a part of, and a passion for WVU that SGA members need. That’s the reason we chose each candidate to be a part of THE Party, and we are excited to continue working on bettering WVU.

What do you think is the biggest difference between your ticket and the opposition?

-       Each of our candidates came to us with unique and realistic platforms that they can achieve in their term in office. We have a variety of platforms that will benefit the average student at WVU, and make their college experience even more amazing during their stay here and after graduation.

What is the biggest lesson you have learned from SGA?

-       With hard work and perseverance anything is possible.

Hey there, thanks for checking out the blog.

While you’re here, we might as well introduce ourselves, as we, The SGA Election Team, will be behind the scenes informing you during the upcoming campaign weeks. Through active twitter polling, live blogging of debates, and candidate interviews, we will be here to keep you informed. (We might as well be a team of superheroes.)

Cory Dobson – Web Developer & Creative Director

Allison Rollins – SGA Executive Elections Chair

Josh Harrison – SGA Executive Elections Chair

Jarred Zuccari – Student Body Vice President

Zach Redding – Student Body President