After suffering considerable criticism, the Election Commission should be applauded for withdrawing its suggestion that it might withhold all numerical results in the upcoming GUSA executive election. However, it should continue to release full numerical results—not just percentages.
While she confirmed that percentage results would be provided, Election Commission Chair Benita Sinnarajah (NHS ‘06) also claimed, “We do have the power to release the results in anyway we want to. We’ve been following the rules.”
Sinnarajah also said that the original decision made by the Election Commission was never actually a policy written in stone and never considered a GUSA bylaw.
Still, it was more than fair for the Election Commission to suffer criticism when the original policy was announced. The Commission guaranteed that any irregularities would have been addressed as usual, but this was never in doubt and should not be considered the heart of the issue. The Commission’s refusal to provide a reason for the initial decision is more troubling, raising speculation that low election turnout numbers and “candidate privacy” were possible reasons.
Georgetown Professor of Government Wesley Joe said withholding the results for these reasons would be “preposterous.”
“The result of an election is not simply the election of leaders. The margin of victory is an important thing to know,” he explained.
This information will reveal the strength of a candidate’s platform and whether or not he received a mandate for his platform among the participating Georgetown community.
Joe also said that declining participation in elections is a thing voters need to be aware of. This issue is particularly pertinent to GUSA elections, which saw a dropoff of nearly five hundred voters between 2003 and 2005. Overall, a mere 36 percent of students voted last year, and the winning ticket received only 36.3 percent of those votes.
The withholding of numerical results is also not legitimate on the grounds of protecting students from scrutiny. Candidates and eventual victors have to answer for their vote totals in all elections.
Joe agreed. “If you run for public office, that’s just the risk you take. And you know that going into it,” he said.
So, while the release of percentage data is a step in the right direction, it is ultimately not enough. Knowing if the entire campus turnout is low is an important part of the election, and it provides valuable information about the faith the student body has in GUSA. If no one ever knows the number of voters, there is no chance for reform.
