In the 2017 student elections, Five for Yell swept the yell leader positions and Bobby Brooks grabbed the Student Body President seat after the initial winner, Robert McIntosh was disqualified on two separate charges.
McIntosh, who initially won the SBP race, was first disqualified Friday evening after 14 reports of voter intimidation were reported to the Election Commission, who voted unanimously to disqualify the university studies senior. The McIntosh campaign filed an appeal to the Judicial Court Saturday afternoon, but Sunday afternoon McIntosh received another disqualification-caliber charge — failure to report a campaign expense.
The McIntosh campaign said they would similarly be disputing this second charge as well.
The reports of voter intimidation, which can be read in full at tamuelection.com, detailed how McIntosh and various campaign members and supporters approached student voters, asked them to pull out their phones and vote on the spot and then watched as the student voted. Some reporters shared images and video of the violation occurring.
For the expense report charge, McIntosh failed to account for some glow sticks seen in a campaign video posted to Facebook Feb. 19. Candidates are required to turn in receipts for all materials used in any campaigning effort, according to Article VII, Section 1 of the election regulations. McIntosh’s campaign expense report does not account for the glow sticks seen in the video.
McIntosh’s disqualification led to a delay in the results, but Saturday evening it was announced that Brooks won after the votes were reconfigured.
“I am ready to get to work,” Brooks said. “Texas A&M is built off of hard work, dedication and loyalty to character — I’m very excited that I have the opportunity to uphold this.”
Brooks’ campaign manager and senior class president Claire Wimberly said she is proud of the campaign the team ran.
“I am proud to have been associated with this campaign — the message, incredible team members that worked so hard and Bobby’s passion for serving Texas A&M,” Wimberly said.
On the Yell Leader portion of the ballot, the election results ran smoothly and without controversy.
Elected junior leader and kinesiology sophomore Gavin Suel said it is an honor to represent the Corps of Cadets as a Yell Leader.
“Day one in the Corps we are called to embody the tradition of A&M in every way we can,” Suel said. “Whether it’s memorizing facts about the university, or just going to every single Silver Taps or standing with the 12th Man, and the mentality that it develops. Nothing is given; everything is earned. It makes people really driven for this job.”
While the competition was tough according to construction science junior and elected senior Yell Leader Cooper Cox, he said he recognized the hard work and dedication of the other candidates.
“It was just a tight race to the end, and I think everyone just had a stellar campaign team,” Cox said. “I think every candidate was a stellar candidate, and it was just a hard fought race. We look forward to it, we don’t take it lightly, we’re going to take it very seriously. We are going to give our all to the students and we’re going to give our all to Texas A&M. We just couldn’t be more blown away that the students would choose us.”
Texas A&M’s satirical publication, The Mugdown, also launched a competitive campaign this season, encouraging students to write them in wherever possible. Across all the elections, The Mugdown racked up more than 3,500 votes, including winning a few seats, but was disqualified from each position.
For a full list of the unofficial election winners, visit thebatt.com.