UPDATED (3:40 p.m., 2/28/16):
Morrison said she sent the Elections Board two copies of her financial disclosure forms. One was correct and one wasn’t, she said, and the board published the wrong form. Morrison sent The Crimson White a copy of the correct form, showing she raised $506.26, in addition to the signs.
An analysis by The Crimson White revealed several inconsistencies in the financial disclosure forms filed by the candidates for SGA executive office.
Caroline Morrison, running for SGA president, listed only $65.50 worth of signs as her income, despite having received a donation equalling twice that amount. She reported that her campaign chose to only use half the signs, so she reported only half the sign’s worth. Morrison reported no other income on her disclosure form. However, she reported spending $506.26.
The Crimson White has reached out to Morrison for comment.
Alex Smith, running for vice president of academic affairs, had one dollar unaccounted for in her spending. Her income is listed as “individual-personal.” Smith told The Crimson White that the discrepancy arose from a simple arithmetic error, and that her campaign income was derived from her personal contributions. There were no other discrepancies in Smith’s forms.
Kara Whelply, running for vice president of academic affairs, reported that she bought 400 buttons for $0.65 per button. She said the total cost was $258.15, despite the listed unit cost indicating that the amount should have been $260. In addition, she reported she bought six bottles of paint for $0.79 a bottle. The total she reported spending was $3.96, but it should have been $4.74. Whelply’s errors rose from combining two separate orders for differently sized buttons into one order, then dividing the total spent as if it were a singular order. There were no further discrepancies in Whelply’s forms.
Whelply sent The Crimson White her receipts.
Shelby Norman, running for vice president of student affairs, has $27 unaccounted for in her spending.
When asked about the discrepancy, Norman said the $27 came from her own account and wasn’t donated, which is why she didn’t report it.
Kelsi Long, running for executive secretary, did not report an income source or amount of income. In addition, Long reported that she bought 500 buttons at $0.37 per button and spent $156.95 total. The total should have been $185.
Long said she sent changes to her statement to the Elections Board, but the website has not been updated. She said her income came from her personal bank account. The total amount she spent on buttons was correct, she said, but the amount per button was wrong. She said each button cost her $0.2750, totally $137.50 on buttons. Shipping cost $19.45, resulting in a total of $156.95 spent on buttons.
Dalton Beasley, running for vice president of student affairs, reported that he bought bead medallions and bead necklaces but did not give a unit cost for either.
Beasley said the reason for this was to keep a coming campaign event a surprise.
UPDATE (8:10 p.m., 2/29/16):
Below are shown the financial disclosure forms. All are from the SGA elections website, with the exception of Caroline Morrison’s form, which is a corrected form she emailed The Crimson White directly.
