The Barometer Online

Issue date: 4/27/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Jeff Wick ASOSU vice president Kevin Schock hugs Ally Puzas Thursday night shortly after election results were released. Van Drimmelen and Schock won the election by seven votes.

After hours of deliberation by the ASOSU elections committee, headed by current ASOSU Vice President Kimberly Nickerson, a decision was finally reached regarding the violations against ASOSU president-elect and vice president-elect, Chris Van Drimmelen and Kevin Schock.

As of early Friday morning, Van Drimmelen and Schock had been unofficially declared the winners of the ASOSU general election, defeating opponents Jill Ferris and Chon Madrigal by seven votes. However, before an official certification could be made, the ASOSU elections committee first needed to evaluate the submitted pending violations against the Van Drimmelen-Schock ticket.

The elections committee assembled Friday and Saturday, where they moved in and out of executive session several times. Under state law, while the committee is in executive session, any information presented and discussed is not admissible to the public until an official, final statement has been issued.

Nickerson revealed the three pending violations against the Van Drimmelen-Schock campaign to the committee members. Before Friday's meeting, there were already three prior minor violations against Van Drimmelen and Schock.

According to the election's guidelines, a total of five or more minor violations is the equivalent of one major infraction, which could result in the disqualification of the candidate.

While out of executive session, the elections committee voted on the three proposed minor violations. Two of the three violations were rejected by a committee vote, while one violation was approved.

With the total number of minor violations against the Van Drimmelen-Schock campaign only adding up to four, the committee unanimously voted to certify the presidential and vice presidential elects.

Van Drimmelen and Schock were notified of their certified victory late Saturday afternoon. They were ultimately surprised at the claimed violations, saying that they had been given no information once everything had been sorted out.

Continued...

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