SOUTHWORDS
April 1980
Student Council elections fraudulent
by John M.
A second election for Student Council officers had to be held due to an election fraud.
Jim D. and Luis F. lost the first election and requested a recount of the votes.
The recount proved the election was fraudulent. Upon comparing the number of ballots with the number of voters, some 263 extra ballots were discovered.
Since this situation has never occurred in Maine South's history, a decision as to what should be done had to be made. The decision was tossed to the Student Council's upper house. Student Council then decided the best solution would be a second open election.
Dr. Clyde Watson commented, "Under the circumstances there had to be a second election."
Mr. New, Student Council adviser, felt it was a no-win situation and a second election was the only fair solution. "It's a bad situation anywhere you go," he added.
In the first election the winners were Jay N. President; Josefa C. Vice-president; Noreen O'M. Secretary; and Cliff P. Treasurer.
The tides were reversed for the two top positions in the second election. Jim D. won presidency and Luis F. won the Vice-presidency.
Even though the administration and the Student Council advisors feel the election was a fraud, Jay N. feels the first election was a fair one.
Jay argued, "The first vote was correct because of no proof of vote fraud. The registration was messed up." Jay feels, "The people running the election made some bad decisions and some incorrect decisions."
According to Jay, all candidates agreed that the registration sheets were messed up.
Jay pointed out that in the first election, 42 percent of the student body voted. In the second election only 23 percent voted. Jay contributes part of his loss to the drop of voters.
Jay commented that there was no proof of fraud anywhere. He said the decision for the second election was "based on conjecture and hearsay."
Jim D., on the other hand, was sure the election was fraudulent. Jim commented "Myself, along with the Student Council Advisors and Student Council, have all determined there was an election fraud." Jim added, "I don't know how Jay could say there wasn't a fraud." ....
Both the Student Council advisers, Mr. New and Mrs. Vicars, along with Dr. Watson and Mr. Simonson, emphasized that no candidate is responsible for the fraud. They feel all candidates wanted to win fairly and would not resort to such actions.
Even though no active investigation is being run by either administration or Student Council, both parties are interested in finding out who is responsible.
The first election was run no differently than any other election in the past. The ballots were accessible by certain Student Council members. Student Council members were running the polls as usual, according to Mr. New.
For several periods during the day there was no teacher or supervisor at the election booths.
However, the second election was run with tight security. All ballots were initialed. No voter was able to put his ballot in the box. The ballots were handed to a teacher who put them in the box and no student worked at the polls.
According to Dr. Watson, "In the future we will take precautions to keep it from happening again."
The Student Council advisors felt the second election was fair and uncorrupted.