Oops! HCUA Fails to Hold Vote in Eliot

Effective student government at Harvard got off to an inauspicious start last night as no vote was taken in Eliot House in the referendum on the proposed split of the HCUA.

H. Reed Ellis '65, chairman of the HCUA, reported last night that a majority in the remaining houses voted in favor of the proposal but that official results would not be released until after a vote was held in Eliot House today.

Apparently Eliot House failed to vote because the HCUA ran out of ballot forms. Council Representative Elliott S. Topkins '65 said last night that when the went to the HCUA office in PBH at 11 a.m. yesterday to pick up ballots for Eliot House, he found the HCUA office closed, and a PBH secretary told him to return at 1.

When he returned at 1:30, Topkins said, the HCUA secretary told him that no more ballots were available. He then went back to Eliot House, where he discussed the problem with John P. Russo '65, the second HCUA representative from the House. Russo and Topkins agreed to postpone the referendum in Eliot House until today.

Ellis said last night that he did not learn of the confusion until 3 p.m., when Michael E. Abram '66, vice-chairman of the HCUA, called Topkins to find out the results of the Eliot House vote. Ellis termed the decision to postpone the referendum in Eliot House "a completely irresponsible act."

Members of the ad hoc committee opposing the proposed constitution last night demanded a new referendum. "This demonstrates again the ineptitude of the petty politicians in the HCUA," charged Michael S. Ansara '68, a spokesman for the group.

"Because of the unconstitutionality and cross irregularities of this referendum, we demand a new vote with outside observers," he said.

Ansara also criticized the way the note was taken in at least two of the houses. Voting in Adams and Leverett was done under an honor system with no check list to prevent students from voting twice.