The results of last week’s student government elections will stand.
Election Director Ryan Bouchard received word yesterday that ineligible votes, cast because of a flaw in the voting website, could be filtered out of the election results. Information Technology Central Services, which was responsible for conducting the online election, gave the new results to Bouchard yesterday.
If ITCS hadn’t been able to do filter the votes, the results would have been invalid and the election would have been held again.
Bouchard said the flaw was a result of a misunderstanding between ITCS and himself about which students could vote in which Michigan Student Assembly representative race.
He said such a situation can be avoided in future elections by improving communication between the election director and ITCS.
The new results do not differ greatly from those released Saturday. They do, however, raise a few questions.
Rackham student Oshmi Dutta was elected as the School of Dentistry representative on MSA with one vote, but he was only eligible to vote for Rackham races. Neither MSA Compiled Code nor the assembly’s constitution make clear whether a student can hold a seat on MSA for which they are not eligible to vote.
The School of Pharmacy had three candidates vying for its one seat on MSA, but none received any eligible votes. As a result, the school will not be represented on the assembly.
Additionally, there is a six-way tie for the School of Music representative seat, with each candidate receiving one vote. Those still interested in the seat will be able to make a case for themselves in front of MSA next week, and the assembly will choose one to represent the school.
MSA Rep. Tim Hull noticed the flaw – which allowed Rackham students to vote for more than just Rackham’s seats on the assembly – when the original results were released over the weekend, and brought it to the Central Student Judiciary. After reviewing the new results yesterday, CSJ gave MSA the go-ahead to bring the new representatives on board.