Tuesday night, the general student body voted on an undergraduate Young Trustee for the first time. After 2,169 votes were cast, senior John Harpham was elected by the narrowest of margins.
The election was decided in an instant runoff, with Harpham defeating senior Chelsea Goldstein by three votes, 1,054 to 1,051.
Although the polls closed at 8 p.m., Harpham was not confirmed as the winner until approximately 2:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. Goldstein and junior Gregory Morrison, Duke Student Government executive vice president, both filed complaints that led to a last-minute DSG judiciary meeting in DSG’s Bryan Center office.
Harpham, former chair of The Chronicle’s editorial board, declined to comment on the judiciary proceedings, but said he was pleased with the election results.
“I’m honored, I’m thankful, I really wanted to do this job and I am very much looking forward to serving Duke,” Harpham said.
Goldstein said she filed her two-part complaint with the Young Trustee Nominating Committee before election day. She said she took issue with Harpham’s campaigning techniques, which included soliciting personal letters of support that were published in The Chronicle and later, on Harpham’s campaign Web site, and a video he released on his Facebook page Monday challenging basketball player Nolan Smith, a junior, to a one-on-one game. Goldstein felt these tactics were against the spirit of the election, which she said should have been more focused on content than personal qualities.
The DSG judiciary meeting concluded that all of the YTNC’s actions during the campaign were valid and in accordance with campaign policies.
“I’m excited for John and I think he’ll do a great job,” Goldstein said.
But she added that the events that concluded early Wednesday morning indicate problems with the election process.
“There’s actually nowhere for candidates to turn if they feel wronged by the election commission,” Goldstein said.
None of the three finalists—Goldstein, Harpham or Duke University Union President Zach Perret, a senior—received a majority Tuesday night, with Goldstein earning 908 votes, Harpham 818 and Perret 442 before the runoff. Runoff numbers were determined by tallying Perret’s voters’ second choices and adding them to Goldstein and Harpham’s initial vote totals. Of the 442 people who voted for Perret as their first choice, 235 chose Harpham as their second choice, 142 chose Goldstein as their second choice, 44 voted for Perret again and 21 abstained from voting for another candidate. Repeat votes for Perret were not counted in the runoff.
There were other questions surrounding ballots. For example, one ballot listed Perret as its first choice with no second choice, and Goldstein as its third choice. Sophomore Lauren Moxley, YTNC chair, said the committee agreed not to count that third-place vote for Goldstein in the runoff.
Morrison expressed concerns about the YTNC’s ability to establish a consensus on some of the election’s controversial points.
“None of the razzmatazz we did tonight was intended to reflect poorly on John. I think John will make an excellent trustee,” Morrrison said.
As the newest Young Trustee, Harpham will sit on the Board of Trustees for three years, one year as a non-voting member and the last two as a voting member. Harpham’s first Board meeting will take place in September.
Harpham said he feels his undergraduate education best prepares him to serve on either the Board’s Academic Affairs Committee or Undergraduate Education Committee.
“I still see the role of Young Trustee not as representing students alone, but as representing the University as a whole,” Harpham said. “That said, this election brought me face-to-face with hundreds of students and it has made me realize how much I want to serve them.”
The 1,054 students who supported Harpham were part of an election that saw a 32 percent turnout rate among undergraduates, who voted using electronic ballots Tuesday. One ballot was left blank.
“I am very pleased with the voter turnout,” Moxley said. “I thought it reflected a real sense of interest from the student body.”
This election’s turnout is an increase from the 27 percent who voted in the Fall 2009 Duke Student Government Senate election, but is less than the 38 percent who voted in the most recent DSG presidential election.
In previous years, the undergraduate Young Trustee was chosen through a joint process by DSG and the Intercommunity Council. But Moxley said vote counting ran smoothly in the first student body Young Trustee election.
“It is a close vote, but the statistics are clear,” Moxley said before the DSG judiciary convened for its meeting.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.