In the world of elections, there is surely no phrase that elicits as many shudders of disgust as the infamous “recount.” The 2000 Florida fiasco exemplifies, in a very muddled manner, the two most important facets of a democratic nation: the right of every citizen to have a voice and the right of every citizen to speak up if they believe some of those voices are being stifled.
Unfortunately, those two noble values often clash and result in a messy obstruction of justice.
The situation that erupted late last week concerning the ASUO executive primary election is one example of such a clash.
On Friday, the Emerald broke a story concerning three grievances filed against the executive campaign of Ashley Rees and Jael Anker-Lagos (“Executive campaign efforts elicit grievances,” ODE, April 8). After a clarification of rules, the ASUO Election Board dismissed two of the grievances against the ticket. The last grievance, concerning a student affiliated with the campaign who violated election rules, resulted in a sanctioned ban on the Rees-Anker-Lagos ticket campaigning until Monday.
The trouble did not end there.
With just hours remaining in the primary election, ASUO Student Senator Kevin Day filed a grievance with the ASUO Constitution Court on Friday, alleging that the Election Board had shown preference toward the Rees-Anker-Lagos campaign and lacked impartiality. Day’s request for an injunction was honored, and ASUO primary elections grounded to a dead stop. Primary results could not be released until the court was able to dismiss Day’s grievance Sunday afternoon, freeing up the Election Board to rule on two other grievances it had received, which were holding up the process as well.
Sound like a headache? We think so too.
These situations require a delicate touch. We believe it is of the utmost importance that students be allowed to express their voices by filing grievances, just as Day did. Partisan politics have no place in the Election Board, but the grievance brought up more questions than answers.
What would have happened had the court ruled in favor of Day’s grievance? Would it have necessitated an extension of the primary election, or perhaps an entirely new election? A re-vote could have been yet another stepping stone in convincing an already disinterested student body that their vote doesn’t count.
It is also worthwhile to consider the timeliness of Day’s filing. Why wait until the very end of primaries to file the
complaint, especially after the Election Board ruled against the Rees-Anker-Lagos
campaign?
The important goal at this point is to move on to the general election before a frustrated student body becomes fed up with the process. The Emerald calls for a swift and clean general election, and we ask the candidates to stifle their ridiculous pleas of ignorance regarding the very simple rules that govern the election process and to refrain from sketchy campaigning tactics. We also advise the ASUO to make moves to tighten the election rules with the hope of preventing these bureaucratic and judicial traffic jams in the future.
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