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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

Staff Editorial: And die

Opinions Editor’s Note: Written at 12:35 a.m. Thursday, March 5, 2001 after an emergency editorial meeting, the following editorial was intended to appear in that day’s issue of The GW Hatchet until the JEC came to its senses, which in turn caused the editorial board to meet again at 2:07 a.m. to adjust its opinion. The following is the original editorial in its entirety. This one is just too good not to print:

We have decided to heighten the level of absurdity in this year’s election season. After receiving a press release at 10:23 p.m. Sunday informing The Hatchet that the Joint Elections Committee will not count all of the ballots in the Student Association elections, we concluded that the current system is completely ineffectual and extend an offer to count the ballots ourselves.

With 16 members of the Editorial Board and more than 50 writers and other staff, The Hatchet promises to have the votes counted in 24 hours.

The JEC press release insisted the reason for the committee members’ not doing their job was because they are “students first.” Pardon our skepticism, but just last week the JEC put their lives on hold to participate in an appeal to the Student Court, another equally ridiculous institution for all of the unnecessary melodrama that plays out in the courtroom.

This entire fiasco comes just as the JEC was beginning to act sensibly. Rather than sustain a multitude of frivolous violations filed by SA Executive Vice President Cathy Resler and others, the JEC dismissed the complaints. At the time, all appearance pointed to a quick and final solution to what has become an utterly foolish series of events. At 4:35 p.m. Sunday, the court followed its shrewd ruling dismissing still more spurious violations by lifting the injunction preventing the JEC from counting the votes. The question we pose is what was the JEC doing for the next six hours? Not only could they have counted the votes, most of which are electronically scanned already, but they could have even recounted them.

Because of the incompetence of the JEC, counting the ballots seems likely to take longer than the actual campaigns. And what of the Senate candidates? Must they wait for the results of their races while the JEC dithers and offers empty excuses?

The current situation is simply idiotic. If students did not care during the election, they certainly will not care about the results if they are delayed another week. Even the candidates are becoming apathetic. The solution, though, is not Resler filing suit in court. Instead, SA President David Burt should exercise the authority vested in him by the JEC charter, fire the current JEC and appoint a group of students who will do the job. Consider this our application.

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