UA Gives Election Counts
The Undergraduate Association has reversed its stance and is providing detailed vote counts on the Senate and Class of 2013 elections, UA Election Commissioner Sun K. Kim ’11 said on Wednesday.
Kim also discussed the issue of a single write-in blank in the vote.mit.edu system when there were multiple open positions.
Kim, also a staff writer for The Tech’s arts department, released the election results after a number of inquiries were raised on the ua-discuss open mailing list about the lack of detailed election results.
Kim said in a statement, “I have spoken to several current and former students regarding the release of the results, and they have more or less convinced me that it is the appropriate course of action to take given the numerous reasons brought forth in constructive conversations.”
Regarding the number of write-in candidate slots, Kim explained that the election code, Art. III§I(c), mandates “a blank shall be supplied,” and, that the UA, Kim said, “interpreted that as meaning a single blank for each position to receive votes.”
“I have, to the best of my knowledge, received no official complaints regarding the write-in candidates, although informally, individuals have asked about this issue,” Kim said.
Kim said that the UA would “definitely look into” expanding the number of write-in candidates slots “in the future.”
Some write-ins were close
The lack of additional write-in slots could very well have affected some write-in candidates. East Campus has two senate slots, and had only one official candidate, Vrajesh Y. Modi ’11, who won with 92 votes.
In the second round of voting, write-in candidate Theodore H. Hilk ’13 beat write-in candidate Rachel E. Meyer ’10 by 55 to 25, despite Hilk having 24 #1 votes to Meyer’s 20.
The UA uses Instant Runoff Voting, so #1 votes do not tell the entire story.
Singletons
Timothy R. Joubert ’13 secured MacGregor’s second senate position by receiving just one write-in vote.
Bexley is special case
While the results released on Monday listed “Naked Abe Lincoln” as winning Bexley Hall’s election, only registered students are eligible.
In actuality, Kim says, Bexley’s election was a 3-way tie between Cody Zoschak ’13, Samuel F. Simmons ’13, and Grant D. Tomassi ’11, all of whom received a single write-in vote.
Kim said that, because of Bexley’s tradition of refusing Senate representation, he does not intend to hold a run-off election for the Bexley senator unless he receives a formal request to do so.