MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2015 I SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 I © 2015 STUDENT MEDIA I ©THEBATTONLINE
Election results spark controversy
SBP-elect
faces alleged
violations
Moped campaign video the
subject of J-Court appeal
By Mark Dore
1^, A campaign video released by
^ Student Body President-elect Jo
seph Benigno contained major viola
tions of election regulations, an SGA
Judicial Court appeal alleges.
The appeal, filed on behalf of Mi
chael Murtha, who finished second to
Benigno in last week’s election by a
52-48 split, references a video entitled
“Go(Pro) With Joe,” in which Be
nigno rides a moped around College
Station and interacts with campaign
staff.
Among the 15 alleged violations
are six that violate state law — “major
violations,” as designated by election
rules — including a failure to stop at
a stop sign, operating a motorcycle
without a helmet under the age of
21, driving a motorcycle on a side
walk and driving on the left side of the
roadway in a no-passing zone.
BENIGNO ON PG. 2
Appeal asks for Yell Leader vote recount
By Trey Reeves
"W' "TT" ote tallies in the Se-
% / nior Yell Leader
% / elections have been
W called into question
following a close race that ended
in the election of all but one 5
For Yell candidate.
According to the reported
results, Steven Lanz was the top
overall vote-getter, garnering
3,860 votes to become the first
Yell Leader who is not a mem
ber of the Corps of Cadets since
2012.
Four cadets — juniors Will
Alders and Chris Wilder and
seniors Kyle Cook and Zach
Lawrence — were also elected.
Incumbent cadet Ben Ritchie,
however, was not.
A Judicial Court case filed by
finance junior Gregory Lanier
states that the reported numbers
of 11,217 ballots cast and 11,369
votes counted are too similar,
YELL LEADER ON PG. 2
Shelby Knowles — THE BATTALION
4*
Finance
junior
Joseph
Benigno
was elected
student
body
president for
the 2015-
2016 school
year with 52
percent of
the vote.
Class of 2018
president fights
disqualification
O'Rourke files appeal
regarding null-expenditure
By Trey Reeves
A hotly contested election season
^ did not end when the polls closed
Friday afternoon.
Sam O’Rourke, the incumbent
president of the Class of 2018, was dis
qualified from the race after not filing
an expense report. O’Rourke has filed
an appeal with the Student Govern
ment Association’s Judicial Court in
regards to his disqualification follow
ing a resounding victory over chal
lenger Beni Kashala.
O’Rourke, who won 78 percent
of the vote, said his campaign did not
spend any money, but he was disquali
fied for not turning in an expense
report. O’Rourke said this changes
the required documentation from an
expense report to a null-expenditure
statement, of which the penalties an
omission are far less explicitly out
lined.
O’ROURKE ON PG. 4
ELECTIONS
CAMPUS
TECHNOLOGY
SPRING 2015
WINNERS
Student Body
President
Joseph Benigno
Senior Yell Leaders
Steven Lanz
Kyle Cook
Zachary Lawrence
Junior Yell Leaders
Will Alders
Chris Wilder
Class of 2016
President
Matt Hidalgo
Class of 2016 Class
Agent Team
Anthony J. Valdez,
Aubre Dean, Mary
Crimmins, Randall
Oliver, Connor Yancy
Class of 2017
President
Claire Wimberly
Class of 2018
President
Beni Kashala
RHA President
Jenna McCarty
RHA Executive Vice
President
Bryan McBride
Elected students lose
positions due to absent
expense reports
Disqualified candidates blame
poor communication
By Lindsey Gawlik
The Spring 2015 election saw the dis
qualification of 18 candidates, 10 of
whom had amassed enough votes to win
their positions.
Many of the disqualified candidates lost
their campaigns because they failed to file an
expense report. Several argue their disquali
fications are unwarranted because they did
not spend any money on their campaigns,
and say it wasn’t made clear that an expendi
ture report was required in such a situation.
Emma Douglas, Student
Government Association
election commissioner and
business honors sophomore,
said there are a few ways a
candidate can be disqualified
from elections, namely by not
showing up to the mandatory
candidate meeting or by not
turning in an accurate expense
report.
Douglas said these disquali
fication standards are listed in
the rules for candidates.
“We’re just wanting to make sure the
elections are run in the most fair way pos
sible,” Douglas said. “I’m more than open
to any questions or suggestions as to how we
can make that happen. I’m fine with these
appeal cases.”
Paul Dutton, a computer engineering ju
nior who ran for an off-campus residence
senate seat, was disqualified for not turn
ing in an expense report. Dutton said the
requirement to turn in a null report when
a candidate does not spend any money is
useless but doesn’t plan to appeal the dis
qualification.
FULL STORY AT THEBATT.COM
6,930 fi rs t rounc j vo t es were cas t f or disqualified candidates in the 2015 election.
The GREEN bar represents the number of candidates in various spring
SGA elections who would have won their respective races if they weren't
disqualified. The BLUE bar represents the number of candidates who were
disqualified but would have lost anyway.
li
2015
ii
2014
This information comes from the spring election
results listed by the SGA Election Commission.
NONE
2013
2012
Award ceremony honors
tech strides in film making
Academy recognizes
'scientists' in industry
By Srinivas Marshal
While most of the Oscar
season’s focus fell on Sun
day’s events, a lesser-known cer
emony two weeks ago awarded
those who pushed filmmaking
technology beyond its frontiers.
The Academy’s Scientific and
Technical Awards were given
out Feb. 7 to highlight the in
dividuals who develop the tech
nology that much of cinema re
lies upon.
Tim McLaughlin, head of the
department of visualization at
Texas A&M, previously worked
at Lucasfilm and Industrial Light
& Magic. McLaughlin said the
Oscars remind watchers of the
interplay between technology
such as VFX, or visual effects,
and cinema.
“There’s a reason they’re
called the Academy for mo
tion picture art and ‘sciences,’”
McLaughlin said. “On the one
hand you have the movie ‘Bird-
man’ that looks like it was shot
in one single take, made possible
by VFX, and then you have the
Avengers movies. So there’s a
spectrum of movies that lie be
tween the ones' that use VFX
to aid storytelling and the ones
whose stories are pretty much
based on VFX entirely.”
From collaborative efforts be
tween scientists and filmmakers
that led to the discovery of the
most accurate black hole mod
el to date in “Interstellar,” to
ground-breaking technological
advancements in film-projection
such as IMAX, Hollywood has
never been shy to reach out to
tech wizards.
“There are hundreds of sci
entists and engineers at major
movie studios today [who] base
their work on the research car
ried out of universities such as
ours, and come up with the most
economical software or gadget
that meets their requirement,”
McLaughlin said.
Throughout cinema history,
movies have often sparked the
interest of scientists and engi
neers to copy the technologies
showcased on screen. The hov-
erboards and self-tying shoelaces
from the “Back to the Future”
series continue to inspire inven
tors. A kickstarter project raised
AWARDS ON PG. 3
Aimee Breaux — THE BATTALION