Problems Plague UC Elections

Nearly 700 students cast their votes last week to fill recently opened Undergraduate Council (UC) seats, in special elections complicated by low voter turnout in Mather House and the resignation of former UC presidential candidate John F. Voith III ’07.

Fewer than 10 people had voted in Mather only hours before the election was supposed to end on Thursday morning, prompting the UC’s Election Commission to extend the voting period in the House until noon on Friday, according to Commission Chair Michael B. Love ’08.

“We were afraid that this would be massively unrepresentative of the people in the House,” Love said.

The only candidate on the Mather ballot, Christopher M. Pak ’08, eventually won after receiving 43 first-place votes after the deadline was extended until Friday. His closest competition, an abstention, received five first-place votes.

Love said the low voter turnout resulted from technical difficulties in publicizing the election on the Mather e-mail list.

Many students in Mather did not know about the elections because of the publicity problems, according to Matthew R. Greenfield ’08, a Mather resident and Vice-Chair of Undergraduate Education on the UC’s Student Affairs Committee.

“The candidate’s own blockmates weren’t aware of the special elections,” Greenfield said.

HOUSEKEEPING

Voith’s resignation early last Monday opened up a second representative seat in Winthrop House, shortly before polls opened.

Rather than hold a later election for Winthrop, the Election Commission decided to fill the extra opening with the candidate who received the second highest number of votes in the House. The change allowed second-place finisher Jenny A. Skelton ’08 to join Raymond L. Palmer ’07 in the Winthrop winners’ circle.

A total of 628 students in Adams, Currier, Eliot, Leverett, and Winthrop Houses voted in the elections from last Monday through Thursday.

Following the momentum of his December campaign, former vice-presidential candidate Tom D. Hadfield ’08 received the highest number of first-place votes of any candidate in the special elections, netting 57 more votes than his closest competitor, Greg M. Schmidt ’06.

“I was glad that the campaign in Eliot was so competitive,” Hadfield said. “It’s healthy for the Undergraduate Council when there are four strong candidates like there were in Eliot.”

Last week’s elections marked Hadfield’s third bid for a spot on the UC. He lost in September’s regular House election and in December’s presidential race, when he ran on a ticket with Magnus Grimeland ’07.

Hadfield said his priorities for this semester include his previous campaign pledges to put coursepacks on-line, arrange year-long shuttle services with Harvard Student Agencies, and improve teaching quality in sections.

When asked if he will run for UC President next year, Hadfield joked, “I think there’s enough ambition on the UC already.”

Hadfield said he plans to study abroad next fall at Cambridge University in England.

In other races, Eric I. Kouskalis ’08 will replace his blockmate, UC President John S. Haddock ’07, as Currier’s council representative. James P. Sietstra ’08 will serve as the new representative for Adams and Edward Y. Lee ’08 will represent Leverett.

Full results from the elections can be viewed on the UC website at www.uc.fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Rachel L. Pollack can be reached at rpollack@fas.harvard.edu.