Last-Minute Campaigning for SA Election in Full Swing

Bryce Jarvis campaigns for EVP candidate Aria Varasteh

With the polls officially open, candidates in the Student Association election are making a last-minute push for votes the old-fashioned way: on foot.

Limited to within the relatively small confines of the "campaigning zone," roughly comprising of the 2100 block of H St and Kogan Plaza, candidates and their supporters are advocating for their respective camps via face-to-face interactions and palmcards.

Ted Costigan, candidate for EVP (full disclosure: Costigan is a member of the WRGW Talk department), was stationed outside Lisner auditorium in a grey campaign t-shirt.  Visibly tired, he told WRGW News around 4pm that his campaign day had begun at 7:30 that morning.  After briefly speaking to a graduate student and informing her that she was indeed able to vote in the election, Costigan expressed measured optimism about his efforts, noting that "getting the word out" was the best option available to him and his handful of supporters scattered throughout the zone.

A dark-horse candidate for President, Phil Gardner, had positioned himself on the other end of the campaign area.  Standing in front of Rome Hall, Gardner frenetically handed palm cards to passers-by, often with only enough time to utter his central campaign plank, "Abolish the SA."  Gardner, who began campaigning at 8:30am, emphasized the importance of attracting unlikely voters to the election.  "We're really going after the voters who don't usually vote in SA elections," he told WRGW News, "If its the same voters that always show up, I really don't think I'm going to win."

Gardner stated in an interview that  believed that his well-received performance in the SA-Hatchet debate on Monday had generated a lot of word-of-mouth buzz, which he hoped could propel his campaign forward.  He also believed that turnout was already high, a trend that, in his opinion, boded well for his campaign.

Costigan, when asked about voter reaction to his debate performance, said that he found it to be "mixed".  "While some voters really liked the passion I brought to the debate," he said, "I think some people were skeptical.  But I'm here to prove them wrong."  Costigan's approach to both the campaign and the debate, in which he emphasized his promise to be a passionate "fighter" for students in his advocacy with the administration, appeared to have been somewhat divisive among voters in post-debate interviews.  Nevertheless, Costigan received endorsements from both the GW Hatchet and GW Patriot (Note: the patriot endorsed two candidates for each position; Zahin Hasan was their other choice).

Both candidates said they would be in and around Kogan plaza until late tonight, however forecasts of heavy rain left them uncertain about tomorrow's campaigning.