In the only contested race for student government this spring, five people were elected to serve on the Committee on Student Life (CSL) on Wednesday. The election also marked a watershed for the Elections Board (ELBO), as it was the first one successfully conducted online.
Junior Sam Dangremond, sophomores Stacy Ulrich and Suman Rao, and freshmen Will Wittels and Eliza Drachman-Jones were elected in the online election yesterday. A total of 883 students voted, about 17 percent of the student body.
Students could vote at the Student Services website between 9a.m. and midnight. Though freshmen elections at the beginning of the year were to be held online, they were postponed due to miscommunication with outside contractor iballot.com and were eventually held in a traditional paper ballot.
ELBO members said that having elections online increased turnout. "It seems insignificant, but with most of the general election being uncontested, online voting helped make this percentage move closer to 20 percent," Elections Board (ELBO) Chairman Joe Coletti said. "Simply having paper ballots would have probably kept voter turn out down around ten percent."
Voting online could have a major impact, as elections have long been plagued by problems at the on-campus polls. Last year, there were multiple allegations of voter fraud. Some students claimed that poll workers were not checking Tufts IDs and that students slipped two ballots in the ballot box when poll workers were not watching.
In 1998, ELBO was forced to hold a revote on the presidential election between Larry Harris and Vivek Ramgopal after reports of voter fraud. In 1999, poll workers did not show up for their scheduled shifts, and the lack of supervision allegedly allowed some students to vote multiple times.
The election for TCU president, which will take place on April 24, will also be held online.
This year's CSL race was unusual because there were a large number - 11 - candidates running. While CSL races have been uncontested in the past, many point to the body's high profile in cases, such as Iris Halpern's charge against The Primary Source, as contributing to its increase in popularity. "I first found out about it through the Source case," Drachman-Jones said.
Dangremond is the only returning member of the CSL, and this will be his third year on the body. New CSL members plan to look to him for advice.
"It's really important that we have one member that's been on the CSL before. He's going to be able to help us out a lot," Drachman-Jones said.
The newly-elected CSL members were happy about the diversity of students chosen. Ulrich, for example, said one of her reasons for running was to diversify the interests of students in the group, citing the members of the Source on CSL. "As a group, you want to reach impartiality," she said.
Many of the candidates ran because they saw CSL as a way to have an impact on life at Tufts. "I liked that it was smaller so that my voice would really matter," Ulrich said.
"It seems like one of the most important organizations on campus because it upholds the University's integrity," Drachman-Jones said.
Though CSL seats have become more popular, it is unclear whether this will make it a more powerful body of student government. Dangremond, also the editor-in-chief of the Source, said the high-profile cases should not change the body. "It's unfortunate that some people think the CSL's role will change. The CSL has a mandate from the University that defines its role," he said.
General elections for the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate and Judiciary were uncontested.
