After a two-day delay, the results of the Freshman Class Board and Undergraduate Assembly elections have finally been released.
Sunday night, the Nominations and Elections Committee announced the winners for the UA representatives and later, all Class Board positions except the Wharton chair.
The results were originally delayed as a result of alleged violations of the Fair Practices Code by two candidates. The FPC governs all student government campaigns.
The new Freshman Class Board president is Jesus Perez, winning by four votes against Jackie Van Loan.
Voter turnout this year was 58 percent, a decline from last year’s 65 percent and similar to the 56 percent in 2010.
The result for Wharton class chair was not announced due to an unprecedented tie. The two candidates, Wharton freshman Samina Hydery and Wharton and College freshman Sebastian Negron will have to face off in a run-off election. The special election, which will take place from Monday to Wednesday, is limited to Wharton freshmen. Originally, the election was to be held from Tuesday through Thursday.
“It’s not something that’s been done at my time at Penn. It’s a new process for everyone,” NEC Chair and Engineering and Wharton senior Alec Miller said. “As far as I know, there’s no precedent for a run-off [election].”
Initially, the NEC was going to withhold all Class Board results until the tie was settled, but then decided to release the results on Sunday night.
“We’ve never had this problem before,” NEC Vice Chair of Elections and College junior Frank Colleluori said. “We did it to ensure Class Board is acting as a unit in its first endeavor.”
The change in the decision was due to the timing of the Econ Scream, an annual event planned by the Freshman Class Board in 72 hours, according to Miller.
The NEC had originally believed the Econ Scream was to occur on Oct. 10, but soon realized it is to be held this Wednesday. The event is traditionally held on the eve of the first Econ 001 midterm.
“We didn’t want to sacrifice a really old tradition for the sake of our own ease,” Miller said. “We wanted to really go out of our way, even if it meant a little bit more work on our end.”
This means that the event will be planned without the Wharton chair, as the run-off election will end on Wednesday.
Before the results were released, the NEC heard allegations against two candidates on Sunday afternoon.
One allegation was brought against College freshman Arjun Mehadevan, who ran for Class Board president and UA representative, by fellow College freshman Tomas Piedrahita, who ran for Class Board School of Arts and Sciences chair and UA representative.
Mehadavan was accused of violating the FPC by stapling two posters together and hanging them on trees. The FPC states that candidates may only hang one poster on non-buildings. Mehadavan was found not guilty, and won one of the UA representative positions.
The other violation was filed against College freshman Bill Ding, who was also running to be a UA representative, by the NEC.
Ding was found guilty of hanging more than one poster on each side of the 38th Street bridge. He was disqualifed from the race.
Ding, who is not a native English speaker, said during the trial that he was “confused” about the exact rules governing the placement of campaign posters.
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