Union screws up autumn elections
Days without election mistake: 0
Imperial College Union had to remove 73 positions from the Autumn Elections that were underway this week, after a technical error that allowed students to vote twice.
The announcement was made on Tuesday afternoon, when Andrew Keenan, head of the student voice and communications, sent out a mass apology to the student body entitled “Autumn Elections: We’ve made a mistake”.
“This is causing us to not have representation for the first few weeks of the year. These weeks are really important especially for first years who don’t have any idea how things work”, said one CGCU departmental representative. “In our department the first student staff committee had to be pushed back a week, but similarly departments across campus are having to deal with this”
The error means that another round of elections will have to take place next week.
Protesting the delay, a letter was sent out by Abhijay Sood, Physics Dep Rep, requesting that voting for these 73 positions resumes ASAP and closes on Friday as it would normally. Sky Yarlett, Representation and Campaigns Coordinator, reportedly said that wouldn’t be possible, however, for a number of reasons including the election by-laws which state that appropriate notice is given (namely “5 clear College days in advance of nominations opening”).
In our department the first student staff committee had to be pushed back a week, but similarly departments across campus are having to deal with this
To allow as many students to vote as possible, the Union keeps refreshing registration details till the very last minute. However, whereas the last refresh usually occurs before the elections begin, this year the final refresh overran 40 minutes, allowing students who voted during those first 40 minutes to get a second vote after the refresh.
An inside source told felix that the only reason the union even became aware of the technical error was that union officials were contacted by surprised (and we imagine mildly amused) students who had managed to vote twice.
Though the Union estimates that the opportunity to vote twice was only made available to fewer than 150 students, out of the 17,000 that comprise the student body, it’s often the case with Dep Rep elections that the outcome is determined by a few votes.
