Council Races Suffer From Low Voter Turnout

After a weeklong delay, the Undergraduate Council completed its elections this weekend, and welcomed 81 members to this year's council.

Turnout was low in most districts, with only 1,032 College students voting, 490 of whom were first-years.

Only eight voters headed to the polls in Adams House, and two students voted in Dudley House, which has three council seats but only one candidate.

But aside from Dudley House, all the houses managed to seat a full slate of representatives.

"Because of write-in candidates, we filled every seat, except for two in Dudley House," said Noah Z. Seton '00, co-chair of the election commission. "There will be no shortage of council members," he said.

Contested elections generally received a much greater turnout than the uncontested races.

Cabot, Kirkland, Lowell, Mather and Pforzheimer, the houses with contested seats, contributed the lion's share of upperclass votes, with 309 students voting, compared to 133 in all eight other houses combined.

As in previous years, this year's council is overwhelmingly white and male.

Of the 32 council members surveyed by phone this weekend, about 80 percent are male and about two-thirds are white.

Slowdown's Silver Lining

While council President Beth A. Stewart '00 said rescheduling the election had reduced voter turnout, she also said the adversity candidates faced meant they had truly earned their seats.

"I am so excited about this council, because these representatives have had to claw their way up a mountain barefoot to get elected to this council," Stewart said.

Stewart added that she felt this year's first-year council members were more motivated than last year's.

And though the delay may have hurt some candidates, Brian A. Chernoff '01 said the low voter turnout helped him win aseat as a write-in candidate.

"I had thought about running, and then Idecided not to," said Chernoff, who will representDunster House. "I think I won because there wereso few people voting in the election. Just acouple of people wrote me in."

Those few votes catapulted Chernoff to victoryover a fifth Dunster candidate, who had beenlisted on the ballot but failed to garner supportfrom enough of the 36 Dunster voters.

While some candidates complained that theelections had been rescheduled, Chernoff had noregrets.

"Every time it got cancelled, I think I gotmore votes," hesaid.

Like most of the council members surveyed,Chernoff said the council ought to focus onstudent services, rather than political issues.

Of the council members surveyed, universalkeycard access, Springfest and student groupfunding were cited as particularly importantissues.

But some council members said they felt thedepoliticization of the council was not in thegroup's best interest.

Charles E. Wright '01, who won a seat in thecontested Kirkland House election, said thatalthough he had supported Beth Stewart's campaign,he felt the depoliticization of the council hadmade it less exciting.

"While we've made a lot of gains on the studentservices front, a lot of people have lost interestin the U.C.," Wright said.

--Jenny E. Heller '01 and Barbara E.Martinez '00 contributed to the reporting of thisstory.

"I had thought about running, and then Idecided not to," said Chernoff, who will representDunster House. "I think I won because there wereso few people voting in the election. Just acouple of people wrote me in."

Those few votes catapulted Chernoff to victoryover a fifth Dunster candidate, who had beenlisted on the ballot but failed to garner supportfrom enough of the 36 Dunster voters.

While some candidates complained that theelections had been rescheduled, Chernoff had noregrets.

"Every time it got cancelled, I think I gotmore votes," hesaid.

Like most of the council members surveyed,Chernoff said the council ought to focus onstudent services, rather than political issues.

Of the council members surveyed, universalkeycard access, Springfest and student groupfunding were cited as particularly importantissues.

But some council members said they felt thedepoliticization of the council was not in thegroup's best interest.

Charles E. Wright '01, who won a seat in thecontested Kirkland House election, said thatalthough he had supported Beth Stewart's campaign,he felt the depoliticization of the council hadmade it less exciting.

"While we've made a lot of gains on the studentservices front, a lot of people have lost interestin the U.C.," Wright said.

--Jenny E. Heller '01 and Barbara E.Martinez '00 contributed to the reporting of thisstory.