In the second-ever student body election of the Young Trustee, a significant aspect of the voting process changed—students were able to write in candidates.
The option to write in a candidate marked a significant shift from last year, when students ranked the three finalists. Although many Duke Student Government leaders think this year’s write-in candidates did not affect the election’s outcome, many believe DSG will have to clarify its bylaws in light of this year’s race.
“[Having write-in candidates] was not the intent of the new election format. In a transition to a complete election bylaw... this year we didn’t include a provision explicitly prohibiting write-in candidates from the Young Trustee process,” said DSG Executive Vice President Pete Schork, a junior. “We will decide as a body whether to permit write-ins in the future.”
A change in Young Trustee election supervision enabled the possibility of write-in candidates.
The DSG Board of Elections governed this year’s election, whereas the Young Trustee Nominating Committee oversaw last year’s race. Before the transition, write-in candidates could not run because they were not mentioned in the Young Trustee bylaw. Because all elections under the Board of Elections’ purview permit write in candidates, however, write-in candidates were allowed to participate under the new system.
“When we were reworking the bylaw, it was not something that we anticipated,” said DSG Attorney General Ryan Clark, a junior, who chairs the Board of Elections. “It was kind of a unique event.”
In the February election, students wrote in a number of candidates outside the three finalists selected by the YTNC. A total of 212 students wrote in candidates on their ballots, and about 80 people received write-in votes. Although the majority of individuals who received write-in votes did not publicly run for office, some students, including seniors Brooke Kingsland and Chris Martin, did launch campaigns.
Among all write-in candidates, Kingsland and Martin received the most votes. After all but the top five candidates were eliminated in the instant runoff voting system, Kingsland received a total of 56 votes and Martin received 213, Clark said. Students wrote in many others who were not even eligible to serve as Young Trustee, such as men’s head basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski and Bart Simpson.
“In this election, it didn’t really affect the outcome in any way,” Clark said. “If a voter is going to write in Coach K., essentially they are making their vote not count.”
For the YTNC, however, the write-in candidates came as a surprise.
“I guess my reaction and the reaction of the entire YTNC was that we had been under the impression that that wasn’t going to be something that was possible,” said YTNC Chair Christine Larson, a sophomore.
Write-in candidates also raised other questions, including whether or not write-in candidates are eligible to participate in the annual public debate. After the YTNC decided Feb. 7 that it does not have purview over write-in candidates, the committee determined to exclude write-in candidates from the debate.
The YTNC’s initial methods and procedures documents, however, stated that the debate would be for “YT candidates”—which this year, could have referred to write-in candidates and YTNC finalists.
“[That] document was accepted by the YTNC with the understanding that the finalists as chosen by the YTNC would be the only candidates in the Young Trustee Election,” states the write-in policy passed Feb. 7. “Therefore the intent of the committee was that the term ‘candidates’... should refer only to the finalists selected by the committee and not to any write-in candidates.”
Kingsland, however, said she objected to the change in the YTNC document.
“That wording excluded write-ins and I think the fact that they changed that in the midst of an election is extremely problematic and troubling,” Kingsland said, who officially withdrew from the election Feb. 13. “I was told that they were clarifying their own document, but I would say that resulted from a lack of foresight. It was the document that existed when I started my campaign, so that was ethically troubling to me.”
The election also brought up questions of how to count write-in candidates, such as how to account for misspellings. Schork believes misspellings should be counted “when the intent of the voter was clear.”
“I encouraged Ryan to try to develop a policy that was as inclusive and liberal as possible as far as interpreting what people wrote in for write-ins,” Schork said.
Moving forward, Schork said the Senate plans to clarify some of its Young Trustee documents this semester, which will ideally be ready early April.
“I think that we adapted well,” Schork said about this year’s election. “I think that it went off without an event, but I would not be surprised if the Senate decided as a body to explicitly prohibit the write-ins given the nature of the YTNC.”
In light of her experience as a write-in candidate, Kingsland said DSG should work to clarify many of its policies.
“DSG needs to review all of their bylaws to make sure they are anticipating any situations that could happen to them,” she said. “They need to understand the relationship to other extensions of who they are, and understand how those organizations may contradict one another.”
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