EXTRA! EXTRA!

Today I was given my first breaking news assignment ever!! I am beyond proud and thrilled to now see my hard work from today pay off as it was published just minutes ago!!! I definitely have to thank my editor Justin Caudell for his tireless work to help me get into the meeting and for assisting with the details of the story and editing it. I thank you, sir, for your confidence in me! I hope you enjoy the story that I had a blast sinking my teeth into. Look out for follow-ups and editorials on The Western Carolinian's website!! There will definitely be more to come!!

Full story can be read here: http://www.westerncarolinian.com/news/voting-issues-plague-sga-election-eaves-wins-final-tally-1.2129961

Voting Issues Plague SGA election; Eaves wins final tally

"Though not reaching the magnitude of what happened during the 2000 election in Florida, voting issues plagued last week's Student Government Association (SGA) election, forcing a recount of the nearly 1,000 votes cast. "The votes for the election had to be recounted after allegations were made that "false votes" has been cast. Despite the recount, which took three days and included both the SGA Election Committee and IT Services, TJ Eaves and Alecia Page remained the SGA President and Vice President, respectively. Eaves and Page were first announced as Western Carolina University's new leaders of SGA via Facebook and Twitter on Thursday, March 24.

"The recount occurred when competitors Doug Bridges and Ben Collette, running for President and Vice President, respectively, cried foul saying that the election had been tampered with due to illegitimate voters. Eligible voters must be undergraduate or graduate students of Western Carolina University with at least one credit hour for the semester the election is being held. According to the allegations, WCU alumni or students who had withdrawn from the University were able to sign on to the election website and vote.

"Beginning on Saturday, March 26, SGA Election Committee members Mike Corellie (also the advisor for SGA), Austin Walker, and SGA graduate assistant Ryan Burnette recounted the votes along with IT services. Out of a total 968 votes cast, 15 were found to be illegal after cross referencing over 7,000 student 920 numbers. Both IT and the committee members found that 15 920 numbers were from either past graduates of WCU or withdrawn students. Neither party could determine which campaigner the votes went to.

"However, the 15 votes were not enough to sway the election and the election committee made a unanimous vote during a special meeting held Thursday night that Eaves and Page were the new President and Vice President. The committee did not release the final vote count..."