Duke Student Government will postpone its presidential election until Friday, Attorney General Paul Zarian, a sophomore, announced early this morning.
In an e-mail to candidates and election commissioners at 12:42 a.m., Zarian wrote that glitches in software for the voting Web site had forced the move.
The software, designed by CollegiateLink Corporation, typically forces users to create a profile on their site before using it, said DSG President Paul Slattery, a senior.
He said a company employee had been convinced to override the option by Chris Roby, director of the Office of Student Activities and Facilities, after concerns that it would confuse voters. But the change was reversed when a CollegiateLink employee realized it constituted a violation in company policy.
"I immediately contacted the guy at the company but he was unable to get a hold of the IT guy who made the changes.... So basically, people weren't going to be able to vote tomorrow without having to go through a fairly lengthy/confusing process to 'create an account' first. I thought that this would have horrible implications for voter turnout and would be unacceptable for a fair DSG election," Zarian wrote.
Earlier Wednesday night, Zarian decided to move the election window from a 7 a.m.-to-9 p.m. slot to a 10 a.m.-to-10 p.m. timeframe after CollegiateLink told him the system could be ready by 10 a.m. But when Slattery called to elicit written assurance, he said, the employee retracted his guarantee.
Aaron Severs, president of CollegiateLink, wrote in an e-mail that his company has been working with DSG and OSAF to perfect the software for a while.
"Because the system is configured for a lot of features-including student organization management tools, events calendars and online discussions-it is designed with the requirement that students create a profile when logging in for the first time," he wrote in an e-mail. "DSG recently requested that we work with them to try to eliminate this requirement so that voting will be as easy and as fast as possible. We're working to meet this objective and we're hopeful that we'll have a solution ready tomorrow morning."
Slattery placed the blame for the botched system on DSG Executive Vice President Jordan Giordano, a junior and candidate for president.
"I made, for the second time, the mistake of trusting a certain vice president with an election, and for the second time it's messed up," he said, referring to errors in voting for senators in the Fall, when a candidate was omitted from a ballot.
Slattery said the old system-designed by 2006-2007 DSG president Elliott Wolf, a senior and Chronicle columnist-would have worked fine, and said Giordano insisted on switching to a new system. Under an earlier plan, Wolf would have trained Student Affairs staff to run the system, so as to assuage concerns about Wolf's partiality in the process.
But there were concerns about irregularities in the software and about sustainability, sources told The Chronicle.
"We were using temporary measures that wouldn't have lasted," Zarian said. "We were trying to get a permanent solution, and obviously it didn't turn out. For the last two elections Elliott Wolf has made the software. He's done a great job and I thank him, but he's graduating and we needed something else."
Giordano, however, blamed Zarian for the collapse.
"To be perfectly honest, I have very little to do with the election process. Paul Zarian is a member of [Slattery's] own cabinet; he appointed Paul Zarian," Giordano said. "Paul Slattery has also openly endorsed an opponent of mine."
Giordano added that Office of Information Technology staff had warned that they could not guarantee the accuracy of results with Wolf's system. Slattery said he could not recall what OIT had said, but said Roby had guaranteed accuracy.
Presidential candidate Andrew Tutt, a junior, criticized DSG and said he felt the delay would harm his chances.
"I'm actually kind of speechless on this one," he said. "We can't delay the election for the interest of getting to know the candidates, but we can bumble our way through an election."
Election rules prevent any campaigning after 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.
Junior Kevin Troy, a third candidate, could not be reached for comment Thursday morning.
A fourth contender, junior Lawrence Chen, said although he doubted the change would affect his campaign, it would depress turnout.
"It's ridiculous, yo," Chen added.
Zarian said he was hopeful that some software would be ready by Friday for an election, but could not guarantee it.
"I was totally confident this afternoon," he said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.