You, the students, do not know who will be your next student body vice president, despite voting closing on time.
We don't know the identity of the next president either, but that's because of a runoff — not a bizarre occurrence in USC Student Government elections.
What's holding up the VP results is unprecedented and unnecessary melodrama.
We agree with VP candidate Lee Goble, who said he feels "desperation and pettiness are at play here." Brian Samples' last-minute appeal of Goble's decided punishment from the Elections Commission has turned the election of our next VP into a sideshow.
Goble said that unfortunate that we "don't get to hear the students' voice." We agree, and we urge the council to clear this matter up as soon as possible.
The Daily Gamecock was called out on the Samples campaign Facebook page for calling his campaign negative — but we stand by those words, especially after Wednesday night's events. We believe Goble, and Samples' recent behavior validates our endorsement of Goble and our opinion of Goble's campaign and attitude as superior in this race.
As to Goble's violation of hanging flyers where not permitted — we aren't the Constitutional Council, but our editorial board has reviewed the election codes, and we found no basis for a violation, much less an increased punishment.
If you ask us, Samples' violations (both reported and not) — giving out campaign merchandise during the soft campaigning period and wearing a bowtie with the university logo on it in campaign materials — are of a much more serious nature, and were they all reported, could have meant potential expulsion from the ballot.
But we must admit, we at The Daily Gamecock only have Goble's side of the story, as Samples declined to comment on any of the violations.
Goble's response to this has been what we look for in a leader, and we applaud his resolve to keep "doing [his] best to take the high road." We hope that Samples does the same, and withdraws his appeal so the election results can be released.