SA voting delayed by one day after ballot errors
The Student Association election ballot was recalled just an hour after it went live Feb. 26 after voters found errors. At the end of the ballot, voters were presented with five different constitutional amendments, which proposed varying changes ranging from grammatical fixes to raising the Blanket Tax. The original ballot only allowed students one vote instead of five individual ones, presenting the amendments as a bundle.
Just before 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 26, the Elections Committee released a statement via the SA’s Instagram story acknowledging the error and moving the voting period timeline. The ballot reopened on Feb. 27 and will close March 6, one day later than planned. All votes cast with the original ballot will be erased, the committee wrote in the statement.
“This error occurred due to a miscommunication between the Elections Committee and the faculty member responsible for creating and distributing surveys,” the statement read.
Heather-Reneé Gooch, the associate director of student engagement, said the director of elections is responsible for ballot creation, using past ballots as a guide.
“It is up to the [director of elections] to ensure the ballot creation is properly structured and for presenting the ballot to Senate for approval,” Gooch wrote in an email to the Thresher.
Angela Thompson, the assistant director of survey administration at the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, is the faculty member who distributes the ballot. Thompson said the mistake was not due to a miscommunication. She said her role entailed the administrative functions of distributing the ballot and not the specific contents of the ballot.
Natalie Wang, the director of elections for the SA, did not respond to requests for comment.
The Thresher obtained an anonymous complaint, filed with the elections committee, alleging that the changed timeline is in violation of Bylaw 3102.1.4, an elections rule which states that any changes to the election timeline must first be approved by a majority vote at Senate.
“Simply changing the timeline via Instagram is not enough,” the complainant, an anonymous student, wrote.
The complaint also alleges that the SA elections committee has violated Bylaw 3102.1.3, which states that the director of elections must announce the general election — and all relevant timelines — at least three weeks prior to the start of voting.
“By changing when the election will take place, the Director of Elections has deviated from the timeline in the Election Rules Handbook that was approved by the Senate on the 18th of November,” the complaint reads.
UCourt Chair Beck Hall did not respond to a request for comment.
The complaint also raises issues with the SA’s method of communicating ballot changes.
“Announcing this change via Instagram does not serve as an effective means of communication to the student body,” the complaint reads. “This election cannot continue tomorrow, as doing so would be a flagrant violation of the Student Association’s Constitution and Bylaws.”
More from The Rice Thresher
Rice to support Harvard in lawsuit against research funding freeze
Rice, alongside 17 other research universities, requested a federal judge for permission to file an amicus curiae brief in support of Harvard University’s lawsuit against the Trump administration over more than $2 billion in frozen research grants.
Mayor Whitmire discusses ‘the state of Houston’ between audience protests at Baker Institute
John Whitmire’s remarks on the city’s budget, transportation and infrastructure were interrupted twice by shouts from audience members at a Baker Institute event May 29. At the event, which was open to the public, Whitmire spoke about the current state of Houston alongside former county judge Ed Emmett.
Rice reaffirms support for international students after Trump administration targets Harvard
Rice and the Office of International Students and Scholars said in a May 23 email that they are monitoring the Trump administration’s actions towards Harvard to bar the school from enrolling international students. A federal judge temporarily halted the move less than 24 hours later.
Please note All comments are eligible for publication by The Rice Thresher.