Recount verifies Pollock, Tinoco wins

By Daniel Linck Savino
Online Forty-Niner
Assistant Opinion Editor

An elections recount held Thursday has confirmed Jamie Pollock and Zaira Tinoco’s runoff victories.
The numbers did not change from the original counting performed nearly two weeks ago.

The recount showed Pollock beating Uduak-Joe Ntuk by 155 votes in the race for president, and Tinoco leading Estee Sepulveda by 25 votes.

Sepulveda, a former treasurer candidate, requested the recount last week. Though she filed the papers several days after the deadline, Elections Commissioner Heather Benton approved her petition due to delays that have plagued the student elections.

First-round ballot counting is open to the press, but election rules do not allow media to be present at a recount. The Daily Forty-Niner’s efforts to observe the recount were repeatedly rebuked. Benton had previously indicated that the paper would be allowed to observe it
.
The company counting the ballots moved their equipment to a different locked room under police escort when the Daily Forty-Niner pressed the issue.

Bobby Godina, the official representative for Sepulveda and campaign manager for Pollock, was later allowed access to the room.

No representatives for either Ntuk or Tinoco were present. The two had worked together in their campaigns.

“Notification wasn’t given to us about time or location,” Ntuk said. “I didn’t even know it was happening.”

Unless and until those books are examined, it will not be known if people voted more than once. It is not possible to demonstrate how such votes might have been cast.

The official end of the election and final determination of the winner of the presidency has been delayed several times. Pollock and Ntuk are currently litigating a case on the matter in the Associated Students Judiciary.

The case centers around Pollock’s retroactive removal from the race. The Elections Commission disqualified her for committing one major violation and a number of minor violations of the election rules.

The violations all involved improper campaigning, including the use of unapproved flyers and workers and one instance of removing several flyers.

Calendar

Display Ads