Late on Thursday night when the election oversight body announced the results of the runoff election for Student Association President, the results should not have been a surprise.
In the last three years, a presidential candidate who ran on a slate has lost to an independent candidate in the runoff election for SA President and some closely involved in the elections said it was likely to happen again this year.
"History speaks for itself," said junior Casey Pond, who ran for SA President each of the last two years without a slate of candidates. This year he ran with a vice presidential candidate.
"It's pretty much improbable for slates to get a president elected," Pond said.
The fact that in recent history a slated candidate has never won the presidential race causes some to question the advantages of candidates running on a slate. While slates have not helped the president win, they have been an almost unstoppable force in electing senators.
This year the Student Union slate, on which junior Marc Abanto ran and lost the presidency, will occupy all 20 undergraduate senate seats - a clean sweep. Last year the Real GW slate, on which senior Morgan Corr ran and lost the presidency in the runoff, took all but three of the undergraduate senate seats.
While no slated presidential runoff candidate has won, slated senate candidates have dominated the election.
Richard Fowler, a sophomore who ran on the Student Union slate and won an at-large seat credited his win to working with his slate.
"We had a good ground strategy and a diverse slate with people from all branches of student government," he said.
Pond said when a presidential candidate picks a team of students, they are shaping the senate, not the voters.
"It just seems like students have this idea that if they don't run on a slate they'll lose," he said. "It makes it so that the senate isn't being chosen by students - this year Marc Abanto chose the senate."
In the last three years, a presidential candidate who ran on a slate has lost to an independent candidate in the runoff election for SA President and some closely involved in the elections said it was likely to happen again this year.
"History speaks for itself," said junior Casey Pond, who ran for SA President each of the last two years without a slate of candidates. This year he ran with a vice presidential candidate.
"It's pretty much improbable for slates to get a president elected," Pond said.
The fact that in recent history a slated candidate has never won the presidential race causes some to question the advantages of candidates running on a slate. While slates have not helped the president win, they have been an almost unstoppable force in electing senators.
This year the Student Union slate, on which junior Marc Abanto ran and lost the presidency, will occupy all 20 undergraduate senate seats - a clean sweep. Last year the Real GW slate, on which senior Morgan Corr ran and lost the presidency in the runoff, took all but three of the undergraduate senate seats.
While no slated presidential runoff candidate has won, slated senate candidates have dominated the election.
Richard Fowler, a sophomore who ran on the Student Union slate and won an at-large seat credited his win to working with his slate.
"We had a good ground strategy and a diverse slate with people from all branches of student government," he said.
Pond said when a presidential candidate picks a team of students, they are shaping the senate, not the voters.
"It just seems like students have this idea that if they don't run on a slate they'll lose," he said. "It makes it so that the senate isn't being chosen by students - this year Marc Abanto chose the senate."
