With ballots cast and the next Student Assembly president and vice president determined, former candidates are speaking out against the Election Planning and Advisory Committee's management of last week's elections. EPAC failed to accommodate candidates who were off campus in the winter or spring, sufficiently advertise the elections and communicate effectively with the candidates, former candidates claimed.
The timing of the election, pushed forward a month from previous years, disadvantaged candidates who were not on campus in the winter, candidates told The Dartmouth.
The decision to adjust the election dates is "almost disenfranchisement," former vice presidential candidate Tay Stevenson '10 said.
Stevenson spent the Fall and Winter terms in Germany. Former presidential candidate Lee Cooper '09, who interned in Paraguay during the winter, was unaware of the election date modifications until two weeks before the end of Winter term, he said.
EPAC decided to shift the election dates to allow for a longer transition period between Assembly presidents and give the Assembly more time to submit a budget to the Undergraduate Finance Committee. Members of EPAC were not aware of the problems the new dates would cause, they said, and will reconsider the election dates for next year.
"I think the verdict is still out on whether it's going to pay off," Cyrus Attia '08, voting chair of EPAC, said.
Former candidates also alleged that EPAC failed to adequately advertise the election, forcing candidates to promote the election as a whole within their individual campaigns.
"This was the first year that I didn't know when the elections were happening, and I was in the race," Assembly President-elect Molly Bode '09 said.
Approximately 49.3 percent of the student body voted in this year's election, as compared to 53.75 percent last year and 61 percent in 2006.
EPAC acknowledged that students may have been less aware of the elections, which group members attributed to the early election dates, but candidates should have expected to advertise the election while campaigning, non-voting chair of EPAC Sara del Nido '08 said. Del Nido is a former member of The Dartmouth Senior Staff.
Cooper disagreed, arguing that candidates should not be responsible for advertising the elections.
"The Assembly and EPAC should be the parties actively pursuing voters," he said. "They can't rely on Blitz to increase voter turnout."
Former candidates also listed the online voting method among EPAC's reputed shortcomings. This method, Stevenson claimed, allowed Bode and Assembly Vice President-elect Nafeesa Remtilla '09 to solicit votes by giving students their laptops and encouraging them to choose them without fully informing students about the election.
Bode and Remtilla both denied allegations that their campaign teams pressured students to vote for them. Both candidates encouraged students to vote and to ask any questions about the general election or about the candidate before voting, they said.
Candidates proposed that EPAC return to paper ballots to promote nonpartisan voting.
"EPAC should be setting up unbiased voter stations around campus and the Assembly should be manning them," Cooper said.
This method, however, would decrease voter participation, del Nido and Attia claimed, and may be unrealistic because EPAC has only five members.
Justin Varilek '11, voting chair of EPAC, suggested that voting stations and election publicity could be made the responsibility of Vote Clamantis, a College organization dedicated to promoting student voting in national elections.
Such an initiative would not be feasible for Vote Clamantis, according to the organization's founder and chair, Tyler Frisbee '08, who said she "would not support a move to work with [the Assembly]."
"With our limited time and resources, it's hard enough to get students to register to vote and participate in national elections," Frisbee said. "I don't know if we would have the ability to put forth a good effort in Student Assembly elections."
Former candidates also criticized a lack of communication among EPAC members and between EPAC and the candidates.
Bode said members of EPAC would offer different answers to the same question.
"I never knew if the way I was campaigning was allowed or not," she said.
Former vice presidential candidate Miesha Smith '09 said it was difficult to stay in touch with EPAC while participating in the government Foreign Study Program in Washington, D.C., this term. Smith was the first candidate to run for office while away from campus, and EPAC members said they would work on maintaining better communication with candidates who are not on campus in the future.
"Ultimately, EPAC is supposed to make it easier for everyone to run, regardless of whether they are off campus in the spring or off in the winter," del Nido said.
Varilek, who hopes to assume EPAC's leadership next year, said one of his main goals for the 2009 elections is to arrange a meeting for candidates and EPAC members so that everyone involved with the election is familiar with one another.
"If candidates have respect for EPAC then they'll try harder to find out all the rules," he said.
Members of EPAC pointed out that candidates could receive relevant information through the group's blitz bulletin. Stevenson, however, said the bulletin was ineffective for students off campus.
"I was being paid by the College to get an international experience," he said. "I don't have time to check my Blitz or monitor Blitz bulletins."
Stevenson, however, said there is no way to perfect the process.
"Its doesn't matter how well the campaigns are run themselves, because no one pays attention," he said. "There are ways to rework it to make the process more [fair], but its always a popularity contest."
