Due to certain campaign period violations made by Boston University Student Government slate The BU Ignition, votes were deducted from four candidates’ total vote counts, Student Elections Commission officials said Friday night.
The slate in question, The BU Ignition, violated parts of the BU Lifebook on Tuesday, said SEC co-chairwoman Tess McNamara. The offenses included sliding campaign cards under doors in residences such as Warren Towers, West Campus and The Towers Tuesday.
McNamara, a School of Education sophomore, said SEC members took adequate measures to ensure the votes were tallied in a fair manner. She said in total, members of the SEC considered the task at hand for about 10 hours.
“With that very, very extensive deliberation, we have taken into account the complaints filed, the appeals filed and all relevant information including documents and factual documentation we have received,” McNamara said. “With all of that collectively, we feel extremely strongly that the decisions that we have made are accurate.”
SEC officials deducted a total of 632 votes from The BU Ignition, according to the SEC’s official voting tally sheet. In a statement online, SEC officials said votes were deducted based on a calculation of how the campaign violations might have affected voter turnout.
This “400 point” punishment comes in addition to a “200 point” deduction for campaigning before campaign season officially began, wherein a member of The BU Ignition posted the slate’s campaign song to their Facebook page early, said Aditya Rudra, a School of Management junior and the slate’s candidate for vice president of finance. The post was taken down.
Presidential candidate Dexter McCoy, who was still victorious, saw a 167 vote loss, while CAS freshman Saurabh Mahajan seeking executive vice president, SED freshman Bonnie Tynes, seeking vice president of internal affairs, and Rudra, seeking vice president of finance, saw 146, 161 and 158 vote losses, respectively.
Before deductions, McCoy, Tynes and Rudra were among the elections’ victors, and would have been granted SG president, vice president of internal affairs and vice president of finance, respectively.
McCoy filed an official complaint with the SEC on behalf of The BU Ignition, to which the SEC issued a response explaining its calculations and process for deciding on the punishment.
However, Rudra, who is current SG president, said in deducting votes from each candidate’s total tally, the SEC violated its own policy.
He said slates are typically docked one allotted campaign day for these violations of this sort. SEC officials informed The BU Ignition of their violation Tuesday, but did not inform them of a punishment until 3:46 p.m. Friday afternoon, at which time there were no campaigning days left to take away.
“There are so many issues with that,” Rudra said. “It was an innocent mistake and should be punished by what the SEC can do. It happened on Tuesday — they had the time [to take away a day of campaigning] … to figure out a punishment that works but that does not actually change the election results.”
If further appeals are unsuccessful, McCoy is set to become SG president. Becoming United candidates Richa Kaul, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman, SMG junior Thatcher Hoyt and SMG sophomore Fiona Chen will become executive vice president, vice president of internal affairs and vice president of finance, respectively.
Kaul, who would have won even if the SEC had not docked votes from Mahajan, said SEC members technically had the right to make the call to take away votes from The BU Ignition.
“We signed a letter of intent and affirmation before elections began,” she said. “We were basically telling the SEC that they were allowed to make choices if necessary and that all candidates would respect those choices.”
She said she was confused why The BU Ignition was allowed to appeal the decision because it was not an amendment to the Constitution.
“It was simply a restructuring of the consequence to fit the circumstances and technically, that is something that cannot be appealed because it was not a ruling on a complaint,” she said. “At the announcement dinner, there were a lot of informal appeals made.”
Luke Rebecchi, CAS junior and the Can’t B Without U slate’s presidential candidate, said SEC officials should have handed down The BU Ignition’s punishment within the proper timeframe. He said SEC officials were supposed to decide within 48 hours of the slate’s violation but instead took 72 hours.
“As much as I think that the BU Ignition acted improperly, I don’t know that because of the SEC’s incompetence getting the ruling out in time that it’s fair to take votes from these people,” he said. “It doesn’t seem right.”