Despite candidate pullout, no re-vote for Mr. TCU
Programming Council voted against conducting a re-vote to replace a Mr. TCU candidate after he withdrew.
By Jill Meninger
Staff Reporter

A re-vote among the four remaining candidates for Mr. TCU will not take place despite the withdrawal of Brad Thompson, Programming Council voted Wednesday.

Larry Markley, Student Government Association advisor, said the decision not to reschedule the election was made because the popular vote is only 40 percent of the selection process, which also includes the candidate’s resume and interview, both accounting for 30 percent each.

Programming Council considered rescheduling an election because some students who voted for Thompson before he withdrew Oct. 1 were angered that their vote would not count, Markley said. Online voting for the 33 candidates for Mr. and Mrs. TCU was Sept. 26. Voting for the top five finalists was Tuesday.

Thompson, a junior radio-TV-film major, withdrew his candidacy for Mr. TCU after he was notified of a violation Tuesday for sending an e-mail to his friend encouraging him to vote, Markley said.

“The policies of Homecoming clearly state that you can’t campaign,” Markley said.

However, Thompson, a junior radio-TV-film major, said the e-mail was an honest mistake. In an effort to remind his friend to vote, Thompson said his friend forwarded the message to several students adding his credentials as a kind gesture.

“I pride myself on being an ethical leader and it wouldn’t be ethical of me to be in the race and so I withdrew,” Thompson said.

Markley said Thompson is still on the Homecoming court and he will also be in the parade.

Peter Thompson, a Mr. TCU finalist, said a possible solution would have been to send an e-mail to the students who already voted for Thompson and allow them to re-vote. He said re-voting would be possible because each voter has to enter their ID number before they can vote.

But Peter Thompson, also a senior religion and economics major, said that if a new candidate is added to replace Thompson they are at a disadvantage because adding a new name would confuse the voters.

“I see the benefits each way,” he said.

Brian Casebolt, another Mr. TCU candidate, said there should be a re-vote if the ballot was unfairly administered, but he said one would not be necessary if the candidate solicited votes on his own accord.

But Casebolt, a senior political science major, said if the Homecoming committee has already decided a candidate has won by a large amount of votes, a re-vote is not necessary.