Online student govt. balloting for frosh ends; five disqualified

The one-week period for freshmen to vote online for Undergraduate Assembly and class board candidates ended at 6 p.m. last night with nearly one half of the Class of 2003 participating in the electoral process, according to elections officials. After the polls closed, candidates filed two rules-violation charges with the Nominations and Elections Committee, which also disqualified five candidates for failing to submit spending forms in accordance with NEC rules. NEC Vice Chairperson of Elections Teresa Lee said 45.3 percent of freshmen participated in the online elections, which began last Thursday. Lee, a Wharton and Engineering junior, noted that the turnout is based on the number of freshmen who voted for class president, so the total number of voters may be slightly higher. For the past two years, voter turnout for freshman elections has been about one third of the class. NEC Chairperson Christine Naselaris, a College senior, said this year's percentage was "much higher than we've gotten before" and attributed the increase to the use of an online voting system, a week-long voting period and the availability of extended-length candidate statements on the NEC's World Wide Web site. The winners of the election -- which included 67 candidates, eight of whom ran for positions on both the UA and the class board -- will be announced tonight after the NEC's Fair Practices Code hearing. At the FPC hearing, rules-violation charges will be heard and defended and candidates disqualified from the election can appeal to be reinstated. Two charges were filed by candidates in this fall's elections, one against another candidate and one against the NEC itself. College freshman Daniel Cohen, a candidate for class board president, filed a charge against Donald Huang, also a College freshman and candidate for president, alleging that Huang violated four campaign-poster rules. The second charge was filed by College freshman Brett Singer, a candidate for vice president, against the NEC, alleging that College freshman Matthew Keesan was allowed to submit the forms establishing his candidacy for vice president after the NEC's deadline for filing such forms had passed. The charge was originally brought against Keesan himself and was changed to a charge against the NEC to conform with the committee's violation rules. In addition, UA candidates Amy Cohen and Amanda Krawitz, presidential candidate Ira Stickler, vice president for corporate sponsorship candidate Amal Dave and Wharton representative candidate Naveen Vennam were automatically disqualified from the election under NEC rules for failing to turn in required forms detailing their spending in the election by last night's deadline. The disqualified candidates can appeal for reinstatement if there are "extenuating circumstances," Naselaris said, though she noted that the rules for submitting the forms were made very clear at a candidates' meeting two weeks ago. Lee said that all five of the disqualified candidates "contacted me after the fact" but added that whether or not they will be reinstated "could really go either way" at tonight's FPC hearing. All members of the NEC except for Lee and the NEC's grievance officer, who will defend the NEC against charges brought against it, will be able to vote on each charge and reinstatement appeal at the hearing. Lee added that she was not surprised that only two charges were brought by candidates in the election because freshman candidates are typically less familiar with election procedures than upperclassmen, who tend to bring charges in greater numbers.