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news
Stickney-Smith
winner in unofficial runoff results
By Sé
J. Reed
On-line Forty-Niner
Wayne Stickney-Smith
was unofficially announced as the Associated Students Inc.
president-elect for 2001-02. Danny Vivian had the most votes
for vice president and Rosa Hernandez took the treasurer's
seat.
The results are
unofficial, however, pending certification of the voting procedure
for the run-off elections.
Allegations of
voting fraud plagued the last day of the run-off Wednesday,
although no official complaint was filed by any candidates.
Instead, A.S.I. Administrator Chance Decker wrote a letter
to the election commission, stating that the integrity of
the election process may have been compromised.
"As Associated
Students Inc. Executive Administrator, it has come to my attention
that there may be a possibility of voting irregularities in
the ASI Runoff Election," the letter read. Decker requested
that prior to verification, the commision withold official
results.
"We're going
to recheck the student roster," said Stuart Farber, elections
commission member and director of Student Life and Development.
"There is a possibility that students voted more than
once."
The commission
did not decide on what actions to take, as the claims of irregularities
have not yet been verified.
If there is .03
variance, meaning three students in one thousand voted more
than once, there will be another run-off. If not, the current
results will be certified.
The unofficial
results for the presidential race were 1,104 votes for Stickney-Smith,
53.2 percent, and 971 votes for candidate David Love.
Danny Vivian received 1,196 votes for the vice-presidential
seat. Rosa Hernandez received 1,162 votes to take the treasurer's
position.
Overall, 2,195 students voted.
"These results
are unofficial," said A.S.I. commissioner Courtney Pranin.
"We have not signed them and we are not voting to sign
them until investigation of possible voting fraud has taken
place."
To vote, voters
must present their student ID cards with spring 2001 stickers
on the back, which is then marked to indicate that student
has already voted.
However, the stickers
are freely available at the circulation desk of the library
and enrollment services upon presentation of a student ID
card without a current sticker. To vote a second or third
time, a student would only have to obtain a blank sticker.
There were other
complaints of illegal campaigning, but without a specific
person to attribute the illegal action to, the commission
cannot take action against any candidate.
"There's nothing
there, " Pranin said. "It's hearsay."
To certify the
results, members of the elections commission will compare
signatures on three booklets containing voter names, ensuring
that no student voted more than once.
The commission
does not know when the results will be certified. The commission
will meet tonight to begin the investigation.
"It is a huge
issue for the Associated Students in general if it is found
out that it happened," Pranin said of the allegation
of fraud. "It could mean there is a whole history of
this."
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