Hi 62 / Lo 49
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Hi 62 / Lo 49 |
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Volume 71, Issue 110,
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
News Senate hopeful raises issues Candidate alleges fraud, unfair voting conditions, tampering by JEB SCHNEIDER
The Student Government Association may still have work to do to adjudicate complaints filed by one former senatorial candidate March 10. Brady Alland filed five complaints concerning the conduct of the SGA general election, in which he lost the College of Liberal Arts and Social Science Seat 6 by 20 votes. Alland's first complaint alleged "possible and probable" voter influence and was lodged against the SGA and the UH4U party. In his written complaint, Alland says the SGA, headed by UH4U members, held a meeting in the middle of the two-day election. Alland contends that this action tainted the election. Alland's remedy is to cancel the election and hold a fair election later in the semester, "free from fraudulence and unjust voter influence." The election commission ruled that this complaint was against the SGA, and since the election commission does not control the SGA calendar, the complaint is not valid. The second complaint alleges ballot tampering by the election commission. Alland's complaint says that when drawing for a ballot position, he received position 2 for the CLASS Seat 6 spot. When the ballot was released, his position had been changed to 3. Alland said that this is the second "blatant" attempt by a UH4U-dominated SGA and the appointed election commission to suppress his candidacy. "There is no doubt in my mind (that this is another) attempt to influence voting," Alland said. The election commission acknowledges the validity of Alland's complaint, but said the error was made because of the tightness of the election calendar. The commission suggested the schedule for the 2007 SGA general election allow time for the posting of a sample ballot before the election. Alland's third complaint is that some students, including at least ten of his supporters, were unable to vote because of the computing glitch in the Cougar1 Card office. The election commission responded to the complaint by stating that a representative was available in the SGA office throughout the voting period and any student who had questions could have come by for instructions about how to remedy the problem. Alland's fourth complaint alleges that a previous complaint filed by another candidate was adjudicated incorrectly according to the SGA election code. A UH4U candidate filed in the already crowded CLASS Seat 6 field and was then moved to a different seat upon a request by UH4U leadership. After investigating the complaint, the election commission ruled this was a non-issue because the candidate approved the switch. Alland's complaint states that although the election code allows a member to switch seats after filing, the code does not state that the switch can be accomplished by a candidate's party. The election commission denied this complaint because it had not been filed in the 48 hour timeframe mandated by the election code. Alland's final complaint deals with the issue of only one party running in the general election. The election commission ruled that this was not their responsibility, as they do not control which candidates file, nor the number of parties running. "I filed all these complaints before the election was over." Alland said. "This should be the beginning, not the end, of this story." Alland plans to appeal some, if not all, of his complaints by Thursday. Send comments to dcnews@mail.uh.edu |
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