Assembly Election Reversed

The original results of the Mather House student Assembly elections were reversed late Tuesday night after Stephen V.R. Winthrop '80, outgoing chairman of the assembly, asked members of the Mather House Committee to re-count the ballots using a different method of tabulation.

Winthrop said yesterxay he believed the House Committee's original tabulation method violated the assembly constitution by weighing some votes more heavily than others. One candidate, Daryl A. Libow '81, won an assembly seat in the original tabulation but was notified after thesrecount that he had actually, lost the election.

Four Mather House students said yesterday they intend to contest the results of both the original election and the recount, because they believe the variations of a preferential voting system used in both tallies are unconstitutional.

No Preference

Susan Stokes '81, an election winner and one of the students who may contest the results, said yesterday she believes all preferential voting systems violate the assembly's constitution, no matter how the ballots are tabulated.

In preferential voting, students rank their choice of candidates, and votes for candidates at the top of the list receive more weight than votes for candidates at the bottom, Stokes said.

"The constitutional convention carefully considered all the arguments for and against preferential voting last year, and we voted against it," Sarah V. Carpenter '81, a former member of the constitutional convention and one of the students who may contest the Mather elections, said yesterday.

The Mather House Committee voted to adopt the preferential voting system at a seting last Wednesday, Christine Tamalavage '79, chairman of the House committee, said yesterday. Tamalavage added she is, "not fully convinced that it is unconstitutional."

Libow said yesterday he is "disillusioned" and will neither contest the election nor run again for the assembly if another election is held.