With mere minutes until the Daily Trojan re-vote is scheduled to commence (noon PST, 3pm EST), one of my sources on the newspaper staff reveals that there is an ongoing split within the staff regarding whether to vote for Zach Fox or Jeremy Beecher, despite Fox’s attempts to throw his support to Beecher. My source writes:

The debate continues among staff this morning about whether to vote for Beecher or Fox. Though Fox is not running a campaign and has asked his supporters to vote for Beecher, some staff members say they want Fox leading the charge next semester. They believe Fox is the right man to call for and implement change, and while Beecher has the same ideas, Fox needs to be the face of the revolution. Fox has been contacted by some of these individuals, who are asking him to re-consider taking the position. The possibility of a split vote remains, even though the majority of the staff I’ve talked to clearly wants either Fox or Beecher [rather than Zachary Franklin, the other candidate vying for the position]. We’ll see what’s said at the election.

A split vote could throw the election to Zachary Franklin, the apparently non-reform-minded city editor who ran against Fox in the first election, losing by a margin of either 37-24 or 37-28 (there are conflicting reports about the vote count). Franklin spoke out against Fox, and in favor of Dr. Michael Jackson, after Jackson refused to recognize Fox’s initial victory. So, needless to say, those who support Fox and Beecher would consider a Franklin victory disastrous.

The same source says, “Fox is expected to speak at the election today and attempt to convince voters to overwhelmingly support Beecher so he can handle day-to-day duties while Fox pursues the greater goal of reform.”

Stay tuned.