Student Council presidential candidate Daisy Lundy will bring two appeals before the Rules and Ethics Board at 9 a.m. today regarding last week's election. If the Board rules in her favor on both accounts, this week's scheduled run-off election would be preempted, and she would win the presidency outright.
Officially, Lundy received 2,006 votes in the election to 1,830 for her closest competitor, Ed Hallen.
Lundy actually received 2,047 votes, but the Elections Committee penalized her 2 percent because of alleged campaign violations -- a reduction of 41 votes.
Election officials said at the time that because Lundy did not have a majority and because Hallen and Lundy were separated by less than 5 percent of the total votes cast, election rules mandated that they participate in a run-off.
According to a Rules and Ethics Board Meeting agenda prepared by Council President Micah Schwartz and distributed last night, Lundy's first appeal will seek to restore the votes she lost because of the violations. The agenda said she will argue she was penalized inappropriately for campaign violations and that other candidates who committed similar offenses were not punished.
"According to the rules of the election as described in the Spring 2003 Election Rules documents given to all candidates, [Lundy] should have been docked ten dollars for [her] alleged violation," Lundy's appeal states.
Her second appeal contends that the Spring 2003 election rules mandate a run-off only if there is a 5 percent or smaller difference between the vote totals of the top two candidates when they are compared to one another, the agenda said.
This differs from the interpretation the Elections Committee used in calling for a run-off. They ruled instead that a 5 percent or less difference based on the total number of votes cast was the standard for calling for a run-off.
If the Rules and Ethics Board rules in favor of Lundy on both of her appeals, she will have a 5.5 percent margin over Hallen and will win the election without the need for a run-off. If Lundy loses either of her appeals, a run-off still will be required.
"If those appeals fail, the run-off will go on as planned," Schwartz said.
Participants in the appeals also initiated discussion concerning the security of computer system used to administer the election, and who had access to the computerized vote totals. Council's executive board ruled last night to launch an investigation, facilitated by the University Judiciary Committee, to check for any vote tampering or impropriety.
"I don't think this will come up during the appeal as the concern is tangential to the appeals process," Schwartz said. "The executive board has discussed this concern and we are going to investigate."
Voting System Administrator Greg Joiner and others involved in the technical upkeep of the system indicated they had no reason to suspect any impropriety had occurred.
After Lundy submitted the appeals to Schwartz yesterday, the Rules and Ethics Board was informed that they were needed to resolve the issue.
The Board consists of seven members, but Schwartz said two members are studying abroad and one is out of town. As a result, the four remaining members are scheduled to convene tomorrow to hear the case. Four members are required to constitute proper quorum and allow the Board to hear an appeal.
"The Rules and Ethics Board is a committee appointed by Student Council comprised of representatives from three different schools and including at least one graduate student," Board Chair Robin Short said. "Basically, we're responsible for any alleged violations or disputes with the constitution's by-laws or election rules."
Once the Board hears the appeals, they will deliberate non-stop until they have come to a decision, Short said.
Schwartz said a 2-2 vote by the Board would result in the denial of Lundy's appeals.
Lundy is the official appellant in today's deliberations, and will present her case before the Board.
Because the Elections Committee was involved in deciding some of the points Lundy is now contending, Elections Committee Chair Julie Teater will serve as the respondent in the case, Teater said.
Since Lundy and Hallen still are scheduled to participate in the run-off Tuesday and Wednesday, Short said speed will be one of her Board's goals when ruling on the case.
"As the Rules and Ethics Board, our intention is to expedite the process so all parties involved have time to campaign prior to the opening of the polls for the run-off election, if it is ruled that a run-off election is needed," Short said.
Hallen declined to comment on the appeal.
"I'm looking forward to putting this back in the hands of the voters with the run-off," he said.
--News Editors Alexis Unkovic and Nick Chapin contributed to this report.
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