BoE to hold new senior rep. election

An appeals panel voted to overturn the Board of Election's ruling in the representative race for the Class of 2004. The election of two write-in candidates, Raj Chopra and Prashanth Rao, was judged invalid, and a fresh election will take place Sunday.

Class of 2004 President-elect Simone Chen and Vice President-elect Jackie Chan filed an appeal last week, arguing that the BoE neglected to follow its constitution in determining the winners of the representative election.

The constitution states that "elections for Class Representative shall be decided in favor of the top three candidates receiving greater than 25 percent of the total number of legal votes cast for Class Representative."

Since this year's representative election involved both an official candidate and several write-in candidates, the BoE judged that write-in candidates need only receive 25 percent of the write-in votes, rather than 25 percent of the total votes cast.

Chen said since there is no such stipulation in the constitution, the BoE was unjustified in its interpretation.

The appeals panel, specified in the BoE constitution and composed of Director of Student Life Jeff Groden-Thomas, Student Council (StuCo) President Manish Gala, and Associate Dean of Student Life Dorothy Sheppard, met last week to vote on the legitimacy of the appeal. Chen and BoE Chair Judy Tomkins were also present.

According to Gala, the panel, which needed a majority vote to make a decision, quickly voted in favor of the appeal.

"The rationale was that ... [when] you derive a new practice, you must be loyal to the constitution," said Gala.

According to Gala, holding a new representative election is "the fairest means of restitution" for the appellants, the class and the elected candidates.

Groden-Thomas called the judgment "a closed decision," and did not comment on how the three panel members voted.

BoE Chair Mary Keough said she supported the decision to rerun the election.

"It was a good decision," said Keough, "although we did have different interpretations of the constitution. [It's] something we'll need to look at when we revise the constitution for next year. The most important thing ... is [that] we get the student body represented."

The panel set the terms for the new election, which will begin at 12 a.m. on Sunday and end Monday at 11:59 p.m.

Gala said that although the election will begin on Easter Sunday, causing conflicts for some voters, students will still have a chance to cast their votes on Monday. In an e-mail sent last Saturday, Gala told junior class members that candidate requirements for the election would be reduced "to accommodate [the] hastened schedule."

The petition requirement was reduced to only 50 signatures, and the rules meeting and candidate's forum were combined into one mandatory meeting held on Tuesday.

"Any member of the junior class is now eligible to run, regardless of prior involvement in the previously flawed election," Gala said.

Three candidates attended Tuesday's meeting and will be the only official candidates on the ballot, Keough said. Rao and Chopra did not attend.

The winners of the new election will be ratified at Tuesday's StuCo meeting, and next year's BoE will also be appointed.

According to Gala, "This is not the first instance the BoE has been questioned about following their constitution this year."

He said internal disagreements amongst BoE members, regarding such procedural issues as calling meetings, putting things to vote and making unilateral decisions, have taken place throughout the year.