[1149] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Creighton/Brar ticket decision
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Helen Lee)
Thu Mar 14 01:49:54 2002
Message-ID: <200203140641.BAA03869@buzzword-bingo.mit.edu>
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2002 01:41:51 -0500
From: Helen Lee <helenlee@MIT.EDU>
To: MIT-Talk@MIT.EDU
Hello everyone,
There has been a lot of controversy about the UAP/UAVP elections this
year. As the UA Election Commissioner, I'd like to share some
clarifications as well as new information.
The Election Commission has reviewed Dan Liston's communications to the
public and to Rhett and feels that they were inappropriate. I asked Dan to
resign from the Rules Board, and have recommended that Swapna Panuganti replace
him as Chair of the Rules Board.
We have also reviewed the issue at hand - the Creighton/Brar ticket
offering $10 to each person that places them first on the ballot. After
much discussion (which was not, alas, reflected in Dan's emails) the
Election Commission and Rules Board have come to a consensus that offering
bribes to students that vote for them is unethical and against the spirit
of the election rules and the UA Constitution. Regardless of where they
would obtain the money, they are using money to pay for votes all the same.
As has been pointed out, there is no specific rule in the Election Code or
Campaign Rules that says that offering voters money for their vote is a
violation. Apparently at least this basic rule that should have been there
was neglected. However, the rules are only the minimal explicit set of
rules to guide the Commission and Rules Board and say so explicitly. When
we make decisions we are supposed to consider the spirit of the elections
as well as the published rules.
The Commission and Rules Board believes that our central purpose is to
maintain the integrity of the election and the campaign. Allowing
candidates to offer bribes to voters seriously compromises this integrity
and is also obviously contrary to basic democratic principles.
The decision of the Election Commission and Rules Board is that the
Creighton/Brar ticket, because of their public offers to bribe students for
their votes, are disqualified from the election. All votes for them will
be awarded to the next preferences chosen on each ballot.
We have no official opinion on the appropriateness of using the Bush fund
for this or any other purpose.
We have no official opinion on the appropriateness of promising a certain
amount of money to every undergraduate (a 'refund') regardless of how he or
she votes.
I encourage everyone to think about this issue seriously and thank those
that have been doing so. I realize that we have made mistakes but we are
doing our best to remedy them.
To Rhett and Victor - I know that the decision above is not stated in
official terms with citations and such. I apologize - I do not have
experience in writing such statements - but we felt it was important to
distribute this information quickly and clearly. If you would like to
appeal this decision, as I anticipate you will, please email the UA
Judicial Review Board (ua-judboard@mit.edu) with the details of your appeal.
To everybody - if you would like to discuss previous emails from the
Election Commission or Rules Board, or this email, I urge you to speak to
me personally. My phone number is 617.256.8121 and I will be in the UA
office from 2:30-4pm tomorrow (Thursday). If neither of those works for
you, please email me and we can arrange a time to talk.
Sincerely,
Helen Lee
UA Election Commissioner
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