Sean Collins Walsh/The Daily Northwestern /media/paper853/stills/8077e4w2.jpgUpdated April 17, 3:22 a.m.
In response to a controversy between the Associated Student Government presidential campaigns, the ASG Election Committee voted early Friday morning to add a statement to the run-off election ballot about half an hour after the ballot was to go live.
The statement alerts students of a violation made by the McGee campaign after an accusatory e-mail from Muhammad Safdari, academic director-elect, was circulated through various e-mail lists across campus. Safdari, who endorsed candidate Mike McGee on Monday, addressed the e-mail to his staff.
In the e-mail, Safdari accuses the Bill Pulte/Pat Dawson campaign of advertising on Evanston sidewalks, providing voters with the means to vote and seeking endorsements, all of which were described as illegal. It also called Pulte an “evil genius” and described him as acting with “douchebaggery.”
The committee considered the information in the e-mail invalid.
Now, to ensure the legitimacy of the election, voters must read a short statement and have the option to click a link to see a letter addressed to the NU community explaining “several issues of slander, libel, and defamation” in Safdari’s e-mail.
The Election Committee wanted to make the race “fair and equitable for all candidates involved,” Shrader said.
Shrader said he didn’t think the statement would deter voters from casting their ballot.
For Safdari, the unexpected circulation of the message has caused his first day after being elected to become a “nightmare.”
“The e-mail was among my friends,” Safdari said in an exclusive interview early Friday morning. “I was trying to rile them up a bit.”
Safdari has since sent out clarification e-mails in which he admitted that some of the claims were speculative. Still, he said he fears that some legitimate accusations, namely the practice of bringing laptops to potential voters, may end up being ignored because of the way they became public.
“What’s infuriating about this is that they’ve thrown everything under the rug because I got one thing wrong,” he said.
When asked why he sent the e-mail, Safdari chalked it up to poor judgment.
“I’m humbled by the stupidity I exhibited this morning,” he said. “I haven’t gotten more than three of hours of sleep in a long time.”
During a meeting before the Election Committee’s vote, Pulte emphasized that the e-mail “tainted” his reputation on campus and the legitimacy of the runoff election.
“This is sacrificing the integrity of the Associated Student Government,” he said.
He added that his campaign also had potential violations to file against the McGee campaign but did not.
“I’ve got about eight things I could file against the McGee campaign,” he said. “We could start a war right now.”
After meeting with committee members before the vote, Pulte jumped back on the campaign trail.
“If the statements from the other campaign are any indication of the future, then that’s bad news,” Pulte said.
McGee exchanged multiple phone calls with Shrader throughout the night. At about 1:15 a.m. he came to the ASG office and initially wasn’t allowed into the interior rooms.
After meeting with the election committee for about 45 minutes, McGee left with no comment.
Former Current ASG President Neal Sales-Griffin was present for much of the discussion throughout the night, but did not participate in any of the Election Commission’s decisions.
He said McGee and Pulte should concentrate on campaigning.
“Both candidates need to just focus on getting elected,” he said.
Sales-Griffin called the commission’s move to put the letter on the Web site a “complex decision.”
“They acted to the best of their abilities given the information provided and the circumstances related to time constraints,” he said.
Editor’s note: The original version of this article stated that Neal Sales-Griffin is the former president of Associated Student Government. Sales-Griffin is still the president of ASG. The Daily regrets the error.
