Negative ads, complaints surround trustee election

The unofficial results of this year's student elections ended on Thursday with nearly 1,600 voting participants. The highly contested spot of student trustee finished with candidate James Winters finishing with the highest vote total (703) among the two other candidates, Chris Olson (611) and Farooq Abbasi (230).

The results are unofficial due to the process which comes immediately following the elections; a review of all complaints against the campaigns involved in the election begins today and lasts until Apr. 28, when the official results are said to be released. Complaints can be filed by any students who feel campaign rules or University policies were violated. This includes any and all of the candidates, their campaign staff and all students who attend the University. However, complaints must be filed within 24 hours of the incident, a rule that is questionable at best, and will soon be reviewed according to election campaign officials.

Once all of the complaints are compiled, a review process will thoroughly examine each complaint. This process will be led by the Election Planning Committee (EPC), which consists of three students and is headed by EPC advisor and Assistant Dean Malcolm Smith, who has overseen complaint filings, last week's debates and the overall election process.

This year's election saw an increase in complaints, specifically surrounding the trustee position. As of publication, the nature of some of the complaints include campaign fundraising violations, campaigning within 25 feet of a University-owned computer lab and various chalking violations.

There have been reports of numerous vulgar chalk drawings, which many students witnessed in the Quad, outside of the Student Center East (SCE) and surrounding James Stukel Towers (JST) during the two-day election. The majority of these vulgar drawings attacked candidate Chris Olson.

The elections saw another element which heightened the stakes of the election for trustee; negative campaign advertisements. There were reports of negative fliers being distributed throughout student housing facilities, including Commons West and JST, as well as inside and around the Behavioral Science Building, SCE, and the Quad. The nature of these fliers specifically targeted Olson again, saying "Do your student body a favor; do not vote for Chris Olson."

With all three candidates reporting the presence of these fliers it is unclear who is behind the distribution of them. An investigation into the matter is pending and the issue will be fully examined by the EPC and the Election Appeals Committee (EAC), which examines the election results once the EPC has concluded their investigations.

Despite all the negative advertisements and vulgar activities that took place in this year's election, the trustee position featured an extremely close finish. Overall the election saw voter turnout increase compared to last year's election, which EPC Advisor Malcolm Smith sees as an encouraging sign for future elections. Smith said, "I am very happy with the election [due to] increased participation and voter turnout."

With the highly contested Student Trustee election, the complaint review process will play an important role in deciding the clear winner. Students now must turn to a process which will be highly scrutinized in order to ensure the validity of the election results.