After a day of political wrangling and accusations, the Elections Board (ELBO) decided late last night to count the results of yesterday's presidential election despite at least one allegation of electoral skullduggery by poll workers.
Eric Greenberg, the outgoing Senate vice president, was declared the winner at 3:30 a.m.
Rumors that poll workers committed various improprieties swirled around campus yesterday, with some students claiming to have voted twice, or having voted without showing an IDs card. Others said they saw fair ballots discarded. But when the polls closed at 11 p.m., only senior Emily Stewart had filed a formal complaint.
"When I was voting at Dewick, there were several people who weren't being asked for their IDs," Stewart said. "There were several people who grabbed multiple ballots, and that's just while I was standing there voting. I think [the election results] should be thrown out. There should be an entire revote."
The complaint was filed with ELBO, the body in charge of running elections and ensuring fair procedure. Earlier in the day, there was a question as to whether the TCU Judiciary (TCUJ) would review the complaint; however, an election grievance is only heard by the TCUJ if it involves direct ELBO action.
The ELBO will still hear Stewart's complaint, but that hearing will have no impact on Greenberg's victory. The body decided yesterday that it would consider the complaint if the difference between the votes cast for each candidate fell at or below eight percent of the total votes cast in the election. Greenberg's margin of victory over the former treasurer, Michele Shelton, was large enough to rule out a potential revote.
Yesterday's results, however, were almost discarded. In the afternoon, when ELBO was unclear how many complaints had been filed, the TCUJ said it might issue an injunction preventing ELBO from counting the presidential vote until a formal hearing could be held. But when it became apparent that ELBO was the proper body to handle the complaint, the TCUJ stepped back, and ELBO decided at around 12:30 a.m. to proceed with the ballot count.
"Our main job was to count the vote and get the votes out. That's why the Elections Board made the decision," ELBO chair Shane Mason said.
On Tuesday, ELBO voted to remove the constitutional referendum from the ballot after an e-mail describing the amendments falsely identified the Elections Board as the sender. The next day, the Judiciary reinstated the amendments on the ballot, but ruled that the constitution votes would not be counted until a formal hearing addressed complaints related to the e-mail.
Appeals may be made within three academic days of the election, so it is possible that additional complaints could be filed.
Members of various student government branches say the controversial referenda created a tense political atmosphere that led hypersensitive election monitors to scrutinize voting procedures.
"The amendments and the constitution are very contentious and controversial, and I think that some people are looking for technicalities and ways to invalidate them," said senior Margery Yeager, a TCU senator.
"This year especially, when we have the constitution and the two amendments on the ballot, people feel really passionately about both sides of the issue, and those emotions can get in the way," Shelton said.
Although there will not be presidential revote, student government leaders say that passage of the new constitution and its amendments will be put in jeopardy if a revote on the referenda is mandated by the TCUJ. At least 20 percent of the student body must vote in order for the referenda to pass, and many believe that students will not turn out to vote again.
This is not the first time ELBO has faced questions over the legitimacy of its elections. Two years ago, there was a revote in the presidential election between Larry Harris and Vivek Ramgopal because of voter fraud. In that case, poll workers did not show up to work during their scheduled hours. Lack of supervision over voting allegedly allowed students to cast ballots multiple times.
Poll workers are hired by ELBO for election day and sign a contract agreeing to abide by ELBO guidelines. Shane Mason, ELBO chair, said without reliable poll workers, there can never be a foolproof election. "There's too much room for error; there's too many ways to abuse the system," he said. "Poll workers cannot be counted on."
"That happens every year during an election. It just seems like this one is more chaotic and poorly run," Yeager said. "I've never been here for an election that wasn't in some way controversial."
The ELBO had hoped to circumvent these problems by conducting online elections and was prepared to sign a contract with an outside company who would have supervised the process for the Senate elections. But no general student government elections were held because of a dearth of candidates for the Senate, Judiciary, and Committee on Student Life, and other student government leaders felt uncomfortable testing a new system during the presidential election.
"Since the constitution was on the ballot, it wouldn't have been a good idea to have it on an untested system," Shelton said.
If an election was held online, the dining hall polls would be completely eliminated, according to ELBO Treasurer Valentino Caruso.
