The Duke Student Government Election Commission penalized presidential candidate Andrew Tutt, a junior, 190 votes-one for each resident of Gilbert-Addoms Residence Hall who found one of his illegally distributed flyers beneath his or her door.
When the final election results were released, DSG reported that Tutt won 7 percent of the 2,508 ballots cast March 27 and 28, but he would have gotten 17 percent without the deduction. Although presidential candidate Lawrence Chen, a junior, still would have finished third, he would have beat Tutt by only 3 percent as opposed to 13 percent.
"I did think it was discouraging for people who voted for me to see that only 7 percent was attained when it wasn't in fact the truth," Tutt said. "The penalty seems absurd. It's disenfranchising the people who went to the trouble to vote for me."
Slipping campaign advertisements under students' doors is not expressly prohibited in the DSG election bylaws, but the document states that all candidates must adhere to University policy, which outlaws the tactic.
DSG Attorney General Paul Zarian, a sophomore, said a resident of Gilbert-Addoms filed an e-mail complaint, which brought the violation to DSG's attention.
Tutt said he was aware that the promotional strategy violated University policy but proceeded because he believes the rule infringed upon his right to free speech.
"The DSG constitution guarantees every student a right to absolute freedom of speech," he said. "The University policy... is basically unconstitutional. We believe candidates should be able to speak as much and as loudly as they want to try to get students to vote."
Zarian, who chaired the Election Commission charged with investigating the infraction, said DSG was forced to penalize Tutt because he violated University policy, regardless of his rationale for doing so. He added that the committee acted in accordance with DSG precedent-in 2005, presidential candidate Emily Aviki, Trinity '06 and a second-year medical student, was disqualified for violating another campaign policy.
But freshman Andrew Brown, a current senator and next year's vice president for Durham and regional affairs, said the flyering rule should be communicated much more explicitly to candidates. This Fall, he and seven other students slipped flyers under nearly all East Campus doors and went unpunished, Brown said.
"I had no idea that this rule existed until it came up in a DSG [Executive Board] meeting a few weeks ago," he said. "That's really confusing. There are a hell of a lot of University bylaws."
Tutt said he considered appealing the decision but did not think he could compile sufficient evidence in the 24-hour window allotted for candidates to file a complaint after polls close. He added that because the penalty did not affect the outcome of the election, he felt he did not have a compelling reason to put up a fight.
"It was not a fun election to be a part of, and in that sense I did not want it to go on longer than it had to," Tutt said. "We decided it would be better to just unite behind the new government."
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