You will be able to write in Jack Newcomer, but VSG still say it won’t count

Judicial Court overturns decision not to have write-in option on the presidential ballot, but leaves deciding Newcomer’s eligibility to the Elections Commision

The Vanderbilt Student Government’s Judicial Court overturned the Elections Commission’s decision not to allow a write-in option in this year’s Presidential election.

The Advisory Opinion of the Court stated “the Court advises that if a Primary Election is not held during an Election Cycle, there should be a write-in option in the General Election.”

Vanderbilt Student Government has faced criticism for the Election Commission’s decision to backtrack on allowing a write-in option in the election, with some claiming it was an attempt by members of the VSG to prevent Jack Newcomer and Dan Stefan, the freshman outsiders, from running in the election.

Newcomer and Stefan promise to continue campaigning

After a request from Newcomer for a judiciary ruling, the Judicial Court rejected the Election Commission’s claim that no write-in candidates are allowed in the general election. The court, led by Chief Justice Ligon, said “it doesn’t make sense, either legally or democratically, to only allow write-in candidates if three or more candidates officially sign up, and to disallow them should 2 candidates or fewer officially sign up”, and acknowledged that a write-in option has been allowed in previous years.

However, the court did not rule on whether Newcomer is an eligible candidate. The Elections Commission has claimed he has committed major violations of campaigning rules, including directly appealing to the media and garnering endorsements from students. Jack vehemently denies these claims in a Facebook post titled “How VSG has shown itself to be a horrible corrupt and dishonest organization as a whole”.

“The reason I decided to run was because my initial supporters (kids on my floor/pledge class) told me that I should run in order to try and make VSG a more honest organization that is not ostracized by a lot of the students. I did not campaign to solicit people into supporting me. My supporters were in place far earlier than the time that I initially announced my campaign”, Jack wrote. He plans to appeal the Election Commission’s decision and is currently continuing with his campaign.

Ariana Fowler’s campaign slogan calls for “a fresh start”

Meanwhile, the platforms of the two VSG approved candidates contain many of the same ideas being voiced in Jack’s populist rhetoric about reforming VSG. Ariana Fowler’s campaign video emphasized that “it’s time for a fresh start” and Jude Cohen’s campaign video said “if we’re not listening to all students, if we’re not listening to your view, then we’re not serving in the way we should.”

Newcomer supporters have criticized the other candidates for what they see as the other candidates stealing his message, which they claim is especially hypocritical when Ariana and Jude have both been long time members of VSG.

A recently posted parody video of Cohen’s commercial signed “xoxo Gossip Squirrel” is edited to have a supporter say of “I support Jude and Andrew because they think they’re better than everyone else” and Jude saying “Let’s make a change that starts with not listening to you”. This video reflects on a broader scale the student body’s main criticism of VSG.

A parody version of Jude Cohen’s campaign video has been posted online

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