The Elections Board (ELBO) decided this weekend to alter the scheduling of the upcoming presidential elections, postponing the nominations meeting until tomorrow night and moving the elections forward a day to Wednesday, Apr. 23.
The timing of the election process had to be changed because the campaign period between the meeting, which was scheduled for last night, and the election would have been eight academic days, which is longer than the maximum of five academic days stipulated by the Tufts Community Union (TCU) constitution.
ELBO Chair Abby Lillianfeld explained that the group wanted to avoid conflicting with any of the major religious holidays which are in the same period of time. "Originally we wouldn't have been able to follow constitutional guidelines and avoid religious holidays," she said.
Although the timeline changes were examined before Spring Break, there was confusion over whether religious holidays qualified as academic days (they do) and additional technological problems with switching the date caused the announcement to be made at the last minute.
But ELBO may have avoided breaking one regulation only to violate another. Under the new timeline, the period between the general senate elections, which were held last Wednesday, and the nominations meeting may be too long, depending on how the term "to call" a meeting is interpreted.
The Constitution stipulates that the nominations meeting will be called within two academic days of the general election of the Senate. By the time the nominations meeting is held tomorrow night, four academic days will have passed since the election.
It is unclear whether the meeting must actually be held within that time period or merely announced. Lillianfeld claims that the second interpretation is correct, and that ELBO's actions are not in violation of the TCU Constitution.
Chair of the TCU Judiciary, Adam Biacchi, would not say whether the elections procedure was constitutional, although he added that if the constitution was interpreted strictly, it has been violated every year since he arrived at Tufts.
Although ELBO's actions have been questioned several times this year, members of student government do not blame the board's members for the problems. ELBO historically has had difficulty organizing elections, in part because the high turnover rates of members may have limited the board's expertise. This year, ELBO consists of five freshmen.
Lillianfeld, however, felt that she had been trained adequately. "I don't think that any more training would have prepared us better," she said.
ELBO was trying to follow the rules for the presidential election, but those rules were ambiguous, according to Senate Historian Alison Clarke.
"I think that's the fault of people who used to be involved in ELBO," she said. "The ELBO that we have now is really strong."
The two senators seeking nominations for the presidency, Joe Mead and Randy Newsom, were not phased by the shortened campaign period.
"I think it's a good test to see who can get what done in a short period of time," Mead said. "Part of being in a leadership position is being flexible enough in situations like this. You're not going to have all the time that you want to get things done."
Newsom agreed that ELBO had the best of intentions in changing the timeline and he said that on the whole, ELBO has performed well this year considering that the one experienced member of the board, Joe Coletti, is studying abroad this semester.
"They're being fair and impartial, so I think the changes are fine," he said. "It just means that while we are out there, we're going to have to work a little harder."
ELBO would have likely avoided the campaign period problems if the proposed replacement to the Constitution was in effect, since the new document would extend the campaign period to up to ten academic days. Students will vote on the constitution at the presidential election next Wednesday.
ELBO also revamped its bylaws last month, but the new set, which was approved by the TCU Judiciary (TCUJ), appears to contradict the TCU Constitution.
Article IV, Section D of the Constitution says that ELBO bylaws shall contain procedures for "the election of all members of student government" and "the initial election of all officers of student government."
But the new bylaws say nothing about the procedures for electing a TCU president, or student members of the Committee on Student Life, even though the organization appointed new CSL members two weeks ago. The bylaws do outline how ELBO will run elections for senators and judiciary members.
Lillianfeld said that these gaps in the bylaws were covered by stipulation in the Constitution. The timelines and candidate eligibility are in the Constitution, and, according to Lillianfeld, ELBO simply uses the senatorial election procedure for all other elections.
"Our bylaws cover what the constitution doesn't," she said.
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