Despite reports of a smooth election from many candidates in Tuesday's Duke Student Government senatorial contest, two complaints were filed by candidates.
While DSG refused to release the names of the complaintants, both cases revolve around the issue of flyering or postering policies.
"The first complaint was dismissed by the Election Comission for being unsubstantiated," Attorney General David Kahne said. The second complaint will be be decided today by the comission, in accordance with the by-laws which require a decision within 24-hours of the grievance.
First-year student and newly elected senator Megan Smith confronted issues with the flyering policies but chose to rather confront candidates directly rather than file a complaint. "I had a lot of problems with other people violating the poster guidelines," Smith said. "Still, I think the DSG handled the elections great."
Other candidates expressed similar sentiments about the way DSG ran the election.
"I thought it went very smoothly," said West Campus senator Russ Ferguson, who was an East Campus legislator last year.
Voter turn-out was lower than last year, with 1,757 confirmed student voters as compared to last year's 1,800 voters. Executive Vice President Cliff Davison said that there were no direct factors for the minor slip in the number of voters, but attributed the drop to a variety of relative circumstances.
"I think it was something conditional," Davison said. "It could be due to the fact that it was an overcast day or people could have simply forgotten, nothing significant."
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