The computer program designed to tabulate results was incorrectly designed, according to SGO Corresponding Secretary and Elections Committee Chair Amy Summerville '02. Ned B. Friend '01, the designer of the program, then noticed the error and corrected the program. The results were recalculated, and the corrected results were posted to the SGO website.
Initial results, based on the first compilation of data and emailed to students at 10:59 a.m. on Saturday morning, identified incorrect winners in some of the elections to committee positions. A second email, sent at 2:50 p.m., announced different results, naming the corrected winners in three committee races.
"The Elections Committee told me to double check the results because some candidates had received an unreasonably low number of votes," said Friend. "I immediately realized what went wrong, an error I didn't catch the first time."
Nine students were affected by the revised results. Joanne Wang '04 and Elaine Ewing '04 were initially named as having been elected to the Committee on Educational policy. They were later replaced by Rocío Digón '03 and Jake Kaufman '02. Sophomore Adam Mullinax's election to the Committee on Honorary Degrees was later revised to name the double-ticket of David Bugge '03 and Shivang Shah '03 as the winners. In the election for the Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid, Julie Babayan '03 replaced Theodore Hertzberg '04 on the list of announced winners.
"This shows negligence on the part of the SGO and of Ned Friend in his capacity as a poll officer," said Hertzberg, who has filed an official contest to the election results. "We're talking about 600 voters. You've got to try to screw that up."
"In my complaint, I identified what I believe to be 13 violations of, or deviations from, the code of elections," Hertzberg added.
"The Elections Committee strongly feels that the election held on April 26th was conducted in a manner consistent with the Code of Elections in the SGO Constitution," read a statement made by the committee. The SGO has called an emergency meeting of the Student Senate to be held Wednesday night.
"The Elections Committee is currently addressing Theodore Hertz-berg's concerns, and has asked the Student Senate to clarify its constitutional role in this process," the statement added.
A recount, originally planned to be held Monday night, was canceled by the Elections Committee. "The five of us didn't feel comfortable setting the precedent for this situation," said Summerville. "We're going to ask the Senate what the next step should be."
In addition to the contested committee elections, College Council positions were filled in this election. Seth Birnbaum '02, Michael Flood '03 and Eric Osborne '04 won seats for their respective class elections.