The Duke Student Government presidential election concluded Wednesday night after a mess of campaign violations, Election Commission rulings, appeals and reversals of Election Commission rulings. The initial problems were caused by the candidates, but they were exacerbated by an arbitrary, confusing DSG constitution and the Election Commission’s failure to act timely and decisively.
It was encouraging to have three candidates in this year’s presidential race because it showed an interest in DSG and because competition can lead to better, more prepared candidates. In this instance, however, is seems as though the competition only led to childish bickering and mudslinging.
The Election Commission found Emily Aviki guilty of two campaign violations—hanging a banner before the allowed time and having a live link on her AOL Instant Messenger profile during the election. Her excuses for the violations are unconvincing.
Perhaps the most unnerving aspect of the campaign was the accusations flying between Aviki’s campaign team and Russ Ferguson’s supporters. After an incident involving slogans painted on the East Campus bridge, the two camps tossed allegations back and forth. Jesse Longoria, the eventual winner, should be commended for staying out of the fight.
The problems caused by Aviki’s campaign violations, however, were only furthered by the way the Election Commission dealt with them. After considering the allegations, the Election Commission failed to reach a decision that was in line with its own constitution and bylaws. This is only partially the fault of commission, but it is also a result of a poorly written constitution.
The DSG Judiciary ruled that Aviki’s original sanction—not being allowed to campaign for the run-off election—was unconstitutional, forcing the commission to reconsider the election for a second time. The Judiciary then recommended that the commission dock Aviki 4 percentage points, throwing the election into a three-way run-off. This, while in line with their constitution, would have been arbitrary, illogical and should not be allowed. The commission’s eventual decision to disqualify Aviki came literally at the eleventh hour.
In light of these events, DSG should re-evaluate its election regulations and make sure that they are both clear and sensible so that in the future problems such as these can be avoided.
The other major problem the Election Commission had was one of timing. The commission was less than forthcoming with all of its decisions, but its announcement of the second runoff between Ferguson and Longoria came after 11 p.m., only 10 hours before the polls for the runoff opened. With this last-minute decision, the commission risked a low turnout due to its failure to announce the runoff with enough lead time.
Of course, all of this could have been avoided if DSG had simply had an automatic run-off as stipulated by its constitution. Although the merit of automatic run-offs is debatable, if DSG’s constitution has a provision for an automatic run-off, it needs to be in place. In addition to adhering to the constitution, it probably would have saved a great deal of confusion and made for a much smoother election process.
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