Council Race Goes to Seton, Redmond

The self-choosen successor of current Undergraduate Council President Beth A. Stewart '00 was elected to the top two council spots on Friday.

According to currently available results, Noah Z. Seton '00 won the presidency with 1,179 final-round votes over T. Christopher King '01, who finished second with 943 final-round votes. Seton's running mate Kamil E. Redmond '00 won the vice presidency over King's running mate, Fentrice D. Driskell '01, by a 1,140 to 888 final-round tally. Fourteen votes have not yet been counted due to a glitch in the council's "unvote" program.

The council uses a cumulative voting system, where in each round the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and his or her votes are transferred to each voter's next-choice candidate.

In this year's final round, the margins of victory were much more decisive than in last year's, when Stewart defeated her closest opponent by only 54 votes.

Reached at a party for their supporters at the Winthrop House Grill Friday night, Seton and Redmond attributed the victory to their platform, which reaffirmed Stewart's focus on student services but also said the council would take on controversial issues.

"Our victory shows that you can provide both student services and activism," Redmond said. "This campus is ready for a council that can bring you both fro-yo and Faculty diversity."

King and Driskell finished far ahead of the next-closest contenders, each of whom had fewer than 400 first place votes, compared to 713 for King and 678 for Driskell. (Seton received 829 first place votes and Redmond captured 827.)

King and Driskell ran on a platform of creating a "healthier Harvard" through community building initiatives.

And while King said he "hasn't even entertained the thought" of a repeat presidential bid next year, he said his agenda has iniated a dialogue that will live on.

"We believed that our job as can- didates was to spark a new dialogue aboutcommunity [and] introduce a new language centeredaround collaboration and compassion, and in so faras that was our mission, we have succeeded," Kingsaid.

He hopes to start a non-profit organization toimplement his community building plans fromoutside the council.

Council Continuity?

Seton and Stewart said the Seton-Redmondvictory reaffirms Stewart's vision of the council.Until Seton's election, Stewart was the onlypopularly elected president in council history toendorse prioritizing student services overpolitical issues.

"I think this says my administration waswithout question on the right track," Stewartsaid. She said it would have been "unthinkable"for Seton and Redmond to run on the same ticket ayear ago.

In last year's election, Redmond finishedsecond in the race for vice president, running ona progressive platform. She was defeated byStewart's running mate Samuel C. Cohen '00, whoemphasized student services in his campaign.

Stewart attributed the small decline in thenumber of voters--from 3,084 last election to2,706 in this one--to the similarity ofcandidates' platforms.

"I think the candidates this year agreed on alot more than the candidates last year," she said.

In a race with few controversial issues, fellowcandidates had good wishes for Seton and Redmond.

"We went over and said congratulations as soonas we heard," said vice-presidential candidateNicholas J. Stone '00, who finished third and had366 first place votes. "I have no doubt that theywill do an absolutely fabulous job...I reallyappreciate the fact that they ran a very cleanrace."

Stone said he intends to work on his agendaeven though he did not win the vice presidency.

"I look forward to working with them on theideas that they have and hopefully incorporatingsome of the ideas we have," said Stone, whoserunning mate, Trevor S. Blake '00, took fourthplace in the presidential race and had 383 firstplace votes.

John A. Burton '01, who finished third in thepresidential race on a platform of repoliticizingthe council, called the campaign "a funexperience" and said he might consider runningagain.

"I wouldn't rule it out now," said Burton, whocaptured 373 first place votes.

Burton also said he does not believe that Setonand Redmond will address the progressive issuesthat Stewart and the current council have avoided.

"I suspect that the council will remain prettyclose to where it's been this past year," he said.

Burton's running mate, Scott A. Resnick '01, aCrimson editor, took fourth place in thevice-presidential contest with 291 first placevotes.

The fifth place vice-presidential candidate,Gerard Hammond '02, had more first-place votesthan Resnick, coming in with 299, but after votesfrom eliminated candidates were reassigned,Resnick placed above Hammond with 317 adjustedvotes compared to 316.

Presidential candidate Eduardo J. Dominguez '01placed fifth with 138 first place votes, followedby David L. Levy '00 with 85 votes, JonathanGruenhut '99 with 45 votes and Edward "Ted" A.Swasey '00 with 43 votes. M. Michelle Robinson '01and Henry C. Quillen '00 each had 41 first-placevotes.

Angela A. Wu '01 placed sixth in thevice-presidential race with 176 first-place votes,followed by Jared S. White '00 with 54 votes.

Veteran campaigner Stewart said one of thereasons for Seton's and Redmond's success wastheir highly organized campaign.

"I think they campaigned the hardest and thesmartest," she said.

The Seton and Redmond campaign featured woodencut-outs of the candidates which were displayed infront of the Science Center, a bagpipe-and-bannerprocession across campus and, of course, theever-present magenta Seton-Redmond buttons.

Excluded Voters

Some students were unable to vote in theelections because a glitch in the "ucvote"computer program shut down the polls at 11 p.m. onFriday, an hour before the scheduled midnightclosing time.

Election commission members said they have beenmanually tallying the votes of the 21 students whosent e-mail to the election commission to complainabout the error.

The votes of students who did not complain tothe commission will not be included in the finalresults, however, even if their votes wereinappropriately rejected by the "ucvote" program.

Election commission members said they did notknow how to reach these students, and HarvardComputer Society representatives said they werenot sure whether the "ucvote" program kept a logof rejected voting attempts.

Rounding up those who did complain about theelection has also been tough. Of the 21 studentswho complained that their votes had been rejected,14 had still not been reached last night.

But even though the final tallies were notavailable Friday night, for some candidates, theunfinalized results were enough.

"Kamil and I came in [to our victory party] andgave the news and there was lots of screaming andcheering and laughing and jumping up and down,"Seton said, adding that he is ready to get to workon attacking students' "everyday problems.

He hopes to start a non-profit organization toimplement his community building plans fromoutside the council.

Council Continuity?

Seton and Stewart said the Seton-Redmondvictory reaffirms Stewart's vision of the council.Until Seton's election, Stewart was the onlypopularly elected president in council history toendorse prioritizing student services overpolitical issues.

"I think this says my administration waswithout question on the right track," Stewartsaid. She said it would have been "unthinkable"for Seton and Redmond to run on the same ticket ayear ago.

In last year's election, Redmond finishedsecond in the race for vice president, running ona progressive platform. She was defeated byStewart's running mate Samuel C. Cohen '00, whoemphasized student services in his campaign.

Stewart attributed the small decline in thenumber of voters--from 3,084 last election to2,706 in this one--to the similarity ofcandidates' platforms.

"I think the candidates this year agreed on alot more than the candidates last year," she said.

In a race with few controversial issues, fellowcandidates had good wishes for Seton and Redmond.

"We went over and said congratulations as soonas we heard," said vice-presidential candidateNicholas J. Stone '00, who finished third and had366 first place votes. "I have no doubt that theywill do an absolutely fabulous job...I reallyappreciate the fact that they ran a very cleanrace."

Stone said he intends to work on his agendaeven though he did not win the vice presidency.

"I look forward to working with them on theideas that they have and hopefully incorporatingsome of the ideas we have," said Stone, whoserunning mate, Trevor S. Blake '00, took fourthplace in the presidential race and had 383 firstplace votes.

John A. Burton '01, who finished third in thepresidential race on a platform of repoliticizingthe council, called the campaign "a funexperience" and said he might consider runningagain.

"I wouldn't rule it out now," said Burton, whocaptured 373 first place votes.

Burton also said he does not believe that Setonand Redmond will address the progressive issuesthat Stewart and the current council have avoided.

"I suspect that the council will remain prettyclose to where it's been this past year," he said.

Burton's running mate, Scott A. Resnick '01, aCrimson editor, took fourth place in thevice-presidential contest with 291 first placevotes.

The fifth place vice-presidential candidate,Gerard Hammond '02, had more first-place votesthan Resnick, coming in with 299, but after votesfrom eliminated candidates were reassigned,Resnick placed above Hammond with 317 adjustedvotes compared to 316.

Presidential candidate Eduardo J. Dominguez '01placed fifth with 138 first place votes, followedby David L. Levy '00 with 85 votes, JonathanGruenhut '99 with 45 votes and Edward "Ted" A.Swasey '00 with 43 votes. M. Michelle Robinson '01and Henry C. Quillen '00 each had 41 first-placevotes.

Angela A. Wu '01 placed sixth in thevice-presidential race with 176 first-place votes,followed by Jared S. White '00 with 54 votes.

Veteran campaigner Stewart said one of thereasons for Seton's and Redmond's success wastheir highly organized campaign.

"I think they campaigned the hardest and thesmartest," she said.

The Seton and Redmond campaign featured woodencut-outs of the candidates which were displayed infront of the Science Center, a bagpipe-and-bannerprocession across campus and, of course, theever-present magenta Seton-Redmond buttons.

Excluded Voters

Some students were unable to vote in theelections because a glitch in the "ucvote"computer program shut down the polls at 11 p.m. onFriday, an hour before the scheduled midnightclosing time.

Election commission members said they have beenmanually tallying the votes of the 21 students whosent e-mail to the election commission to complainabout the error.

The votes of students who did not complain tothe commission will not be included in the finalresults, however, even if their votes wereinappropriately rejected by the "ucvote" program.

Election commission members said they did notknow how to reach these students, and HarvardComputer Society representatives said they werenot sure whether the "ucvote" program kept a logof rejected voting attempts.

Rounding up those who did complain about theelection has also been tough. Of the 21 studentswho complained that their votes had been rejected,14 had still not been reached last night.

But even though the final tallies were notavailable Friday night, for some candidates, theunfinalized results were enough.

"Kamil and I came in [to our victory party] andgave the news and there was lots of screaming andcheering and laughing and jumping up and down,"Seton said, adding that he is ready to get to workon attacking students' "everyday problems.