Election Results: students elect four senators, one disqualified

   Chapman's study body elected four new Student Government Association (SGA) senators, but one candidate was disqualified after missing a 5 p.m. deadline Wednesday to disclose how much he spent on his campaign.

    Chris Joondeph was elected as junior class senator over Hannah Torrance with about 18 percent of juniors voting. Brandon Tracey beat four candidates for sophomore class senator also with about 18 percent of his class voting.

   Freshman David Burke was disqualified from his uncontested election with Zar Orellana for two senate seats representing the Argyros School of Business and Economics. Burke said he forgot about the deadline while studying for finals this week and will ask for an exemption.

   "It's 100 percent my fault and if they decide to exempt me that's great," Burke said.

   SGA President Megan Demshki said an election will be held next semester to fill this vacant senate seat.

   Tracey, who resigned as director of elections earlier this semester to run for senate, and junior Chris Joondeph, a former Associated Students senator, were elected to represent their respective class years.

   Tracey wants to start resolving a list of concerns students wrote on the shirts of SGA senators during the "What's the Issue?" campaign at the beginning of the semester. He said he is not familiar with senate's authority to demand change on complex issues such as giving sophomores a better timeslot to register for classes.

   "I will have a better idea, once I get into senate, of what their legislative power is and what they can do," he said.

   Tracey said he can help senate on issues he has heard from students such as installing mirrors in parking structures to help prevent car accidents and providing a scale in the Argyros Fitness Center.

    Joondeph is studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina and was not available for comment as of press time.

   Also on the ballot was an amendment to SGA's constitution regarding the student government's review board, which hears appeals of election results and senator misconduct.

   The board pulls members from the Student Conduct Board, which primarily reviews cases of reported alcohol and drug use on campus. Under the new amendment, SGA's director of justice would be able to appoint students pending the approval of the dean of students and senate.

   With a 12 percent voter turnout, SGA didn't meet the 20 percent requirement to validate the vote. Chelsea Simmons, director of elections, said holding an election during the week before finals had a small impact on voter turnout because about the same number of students vote in every student government election.

   Simmons and members of the elections committee took university-owned iPads around the student union and encouraged students to use them to vote online.

   "I don't feel we necessarily get a lot of people from doing it," Simmons said.

The elections committee was allowed to do this, while candidates are not, because they are independent from senate, SGA adviser Colleen Wood said.

   Anthony Tran, a sophomore business major, said if a member of student government took the time to personally ask him to vote on a constitutional amendment, he would be more likely to support it.

    "If they were just right there I would probably be more likely to just vote for it than take the time to read it," Tran said.