Though yesterday's online Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate, Committee on Student Life (CSL) and Tufts Community Union (TCU) Judiciary elections went smoothly overall, those seniors and sophomores who rose early in the morning to vote before their 9:30 classes were greeted by an error
page.
"From about 9 [when the polls opened] to 9:30 a.m., after students voted, they were getting an error page instead of a confirmation page," said freshman Adam Weldai, public relations officer of Tufts' Elections Board (ELBO), which administered the elections.
But the problem was quickly rectified, according to Weldai, who added that "the votes entered during that time were still counted, even though the confirmation page wasn't displayed."
Forty percent of eligible students voted in the election, a figure that Weldai said was "expected."
"We were pretty happy, because 40 percent has pretty much been the average turnout over the past few years," he said, though he added that "of course, more is always better."
Only two of yesterday's races - those for senior and sophomore senate seats - were contested. Eight candidates vied for seven open senior senate seats, and 12 candidates vied for the 11 open sophomore senate seats.
Rising sophomores Mose Berkowitz, Pooja Chokshi, Neil DiBiasi, Woon Yeong Jeong, Aliza Lailari, Matt LaPolice, Tim Li, London Moore, Padden Murphy, Matt Shapanka and Elton Sykes won their bids for senate seats. Rising sophomore Josh Wilmoth's bid was not successful.
The bids of rising seniors Andrew Caplan, Kelley Ferro, Brody Hale, Robert Kim, Denise Lyn-Shue, Harish Perkari and Mitch Robinson - all of whom have previous senate experience - were successful. David Dennis, the only candidate who had never served on the senate, was not elected.
Following the release of the Senate election's results, Robinson announced his candidacy for the TCU Senate presidency.
"The students of Tufts University deserve a President with the leadership and vision to improve the student experience and make Tufts an even better place," said Robinson in a press release.
"I want to be president so that I can help unite Tufts as a single community, while lowering the day-to-day costs of being a student," the release said.
In uncontested bids, Deborah Block, Evan Dreifuss and Amanda Richardson won junior senate seats; sophomore Alexandra Barker, sophomore Alison Hoover and freshman Vanessa White won CSL seats. Freshman Daniel Halper and junior Shiva Bhashyam won TCUJ seats.
