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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

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Robinson-Singer run-off begins Wednesday

Posted 4:17 p.m. March 4 — The Joint Election Committee declared a run-off election Monday afternoon after discovering that a study abroad student voted twice for Student Association presidential candidate Josh Singer in last week’s election.

Former candidate Dani Greenspan, who garnered about 17 percent of the vote last week, said he is now campaigning for SA candidate Phil Robinson.

“I’m with Phil,” Greenspan said. “I am trying to get as many people behind him as possible.”

Before Monday, Singer had 40.0009 percent of the vote. Now he drops to just under the 40 percent mark required to win an election with no run-off.

The JEC launched a re-count over the weekend and despite a few changes nothing affected the outcome until the group began verifying the absentee ballots.

“When we finished the re-count, everything seemed the same,” JEC Chairman Scott Sheffler said.

SA presidential candidate Phil Robinson had 9 votes less than Singer after the final count. Now he is eight votes behind.

The numbers changed when it was found a study abroad student replied with a Singer vote to both the JEC e-mail and the Study Abroad Office, he said.

Sheffler said the Office for Study Abroad forwarded the absentee vote to the JEC and, although it was from a different address, they both came from the same student.

The JEC verified that the two e-mails came from the same author this morning.

The one less ballot for Singer brings his vote total to 866 of 2,166 total votes, or 39.998 percent.

Sheffler said the JEC is currently checking into the rules and setting up the run-off between Singer and Robinson.

“Basically this means we start from scratch,” Sheffler said.

A run-off election means students will vote again for the SA president and choose between only Singer and Robinson.

Robinson said he is excited to start campaigning again and looking forward to the results of the run-off.

Singer was unavailable for comment.

Sheffler said the polling stations will probably be the same as last week and the elections will most likely be held on Wednesday and Thursday.

“We are working on getting the run-off staffed and making arrangements,” Sheffler said. “We should have it all under control by this afternoon.”

The Hatchet, GW College Democrats, GW Student Bar Association and others endorsed Robinson. The College Republicans, among others, endorsed Singer.

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