Two GUSA presidential tickets were disqualified Tuesday night for inappropriate campaigning following an election mishap that prevented at least 300 students from voting.
Soon after declaring Brian Morgenstern (CAS ‘05) and Steve de Man (CAS ‘04) the winners of GUSA1s executive elections, the six executive candidates were ushered into the glass-walled GUSA office for a closed meeting.
As crowds looked on, the candidates were informed that the two losing tickets, Rob Hutton (SFS ‘04) and Nazareth Haysbert (CAS ‘05), and Steve Palmese (MSB ‘04) and Tim Nunziata (MSB ‘04), were disqualified from the race for allegedly campaigning during a predetermined no-campaigning period, according to the campaign managers of both disqualified campaigns.
The controversy began Monday night when election commissioner Ramya Murali (SFS ‘03) announced that 280 undergraduates were unable to vote because they did not recieve the online ballot. Murali asked Justin Palmer, president of Saxa Server, a student-run group in charge of the election system, to e-mail ballots to those left out and extended the voting period for these students to Tuesday at 8 p.m. She also stated Monday night that any candidate found campaigning during the extended voting period would be disqualified. Both disqualified tickets are charged with disobeying this order.
Hutton and Haysbert1s campaign manager, Luis Torres (CAS ‘05), said that because the candidates were unable to campaign, it was unclear who would advertise the extended voting period.
“The election committee said it was not their responsibility to advertise so there was no way for those students who did not receive a ballot the first time to know that voting had been extended,” he said. Torres asked the Center for Minority Affairs to e-mail students to inform they still had the opertunity to vote. The election committee deemed this a breach of the agreed-upon rules.
According to David Gutnik, campaign manager for the Palmese/Nunziata ticket, Palmese and Nunziata were told they had been disqualified for sending personal thank-you notes to students on Tuesday. Gutnik claims that the thank- you notes were preapproved by Murali. “We consider these grounds for disqualification to be completely unfounded and suspect,” he said.
The election results will not be considered official until the GUSA assembly votes to certify them next Tuesday. Though disqualified, Palmese and Nunziata intend to contest the election results, Gutnik said. The Palmese campaign will submit a statement to GUSA that cites suspected tampering to the election website, infringement of the bylaws by GUSA officials and student disenfranchisement as their grievances. “We would be unfaithful to our beliefs if we were to just pack our bags after getting the results of what we think was an unfair election. If we are going to lose, we want to lose fairly,” Gutnik said.
The Hutton/Haysbert ticket has not committed to filing an official complaint. Torres, however, called the election “not legitamate.” “We essentially had two elections with one portion of students voting on one day and another portion voting on another. That is not an official election,” he said.
The winning ticket expressed satisfaction with the election. “Steve [de Man] and I are glad the election committee took the extra day to ensure all students had the opportunity to vote. The election was fair and legitimate,” Morgenstern said. They do, however, plan to appoint a commission to write improved bylaws for the next election, he said.
The GUSA assembly held a closed meeting Wednesday night to brief representatives on the current situation. They will hold an open meeting next Tuesday to hear candidates’ and students’ concerns and may vote on whether or not to certify the election results.
