I’ve had excellent experiences in LSU Student Government.

At the end of my freshman year, Stuart Watkins appointed me to be an executive aide in his administration. I became an executive assistant the year after that as a member of J Hudson’s senior staff.

My work and positive experiences in those first two years led to my application for and acceptance to chief of staff in Cody Wells’ administration.

Though SG has never done a great job with everything, we did a few things well, and I’m proud of that.

I could always justify the amount of time and energy I put into the organization by looking at those admittedly few things we did that made a difference in students’ lives.

Having said that, if I were at the end of my freshman year now (similar to how I was when I applied for Watkins’ staff), I would not only avoid SG, but talk about how stupid it is and spend copious amounts of time coming up with clever jokes about those involved.

Now, a lot of people involved in SG and the election(s) this year are friends of mine. They’re good people, so I want to make it clear that this column shouldn’t be taken personally.

Just rationally.

SG and its processes are now a joke.

We saw what happened during the first election. John Woodard beat T Graham S. Howell by more than 1,000 votes.

There was initially a question of whether he severely violated the election code in doing so. That issue was looked into and resolved by the University Court, which decided he did not violate the code.

According to Dean of Students K.C. White, the court’s findings are final. At least they are the second time around.

For shady reasons no one can understand, White and the current leaders of SG determined the method of filing complaints and going through the court was not adequate in this situation.

One wonders why.

There is a strict process in place for this type of thing: someone notices something wrong, so he or she gathers evidence and files a complaint within two days.

It is up to that person to provide all relevant evidence within the amount of time during that court hearing.

What we’re experiencing is a case of double jeopardy.

Even if we were to find out after the court case that Woodard blared Skrillex in the Quad (which is illegal) to call attention to a dog he was campaigning with (also specifically forbidden by the election code) in an attempt to attract college girls to offer sexual favors in exchange for votes (not specifically illegal in the code, but one can assume), it would be irrelevant because the established window had passed.

And furthermore, what does the establishment of a second election mean for future elections and presidential power?

The election process should be completely separate from anyone sitting in one of the three branches.

Does this mean future presidents have the power to cancel or delay elections? SG will scream “No,” but why not?

Also, the candidates have been told to campaign only through social media. This opens both candidates to a myriad of potential complaints.

What happens if a student wears a ticket’s T-shirt Monday? Is that grounds for a complaint? Or maybe even another election?

If students think the number of court cases so far has been bad, I can’t wait to see how many more we have after this election.

I kept my mouth shut during the campaigns. I kept my mouth shut during the elections. I kept my mouth shut during the trials, too, but I can’t do it any longer.

All of this stinks. It’s putrid. It smells like corruption.

And SG isn’t important enough to be corrupt.

John Parker Ford is a 22-year-old mass communication senior from Alexandria.