Theft of ballot Box by Protest Group Forces Delay in UA Election Results
By Reuven M. LernerUndergraduate Association elections were disrupted on March 11 when a group of students calling itself the Student's Revolutionary Government stole a ballot box from the Lobby 7 polling station.
The unprecedented theft, which completely surprised UA officers and the election commission, forced a special election for students whose ballots were stolen and delayed the announcement of election results for nearly one month.
Four of the five students accused of having taken part in the theft were eventually ordered to do community service and pay a $60 fine by the Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education and Student Affairs. Charges against the fifth, Jeremy H. Brown '94, were dismissed after it became clear that he had not participated in the theft.
They `started running with it'
According to eyewitnesses, several students rushed the Lobby 7 polling station at 5 p.m. on March 11. "Two of us were working desk when four or five guys came over," said Natesh Parashurama '95. Two of the guys started running with it, and took it toward Building 1," he said. Parashurama and the other booth worker called the Campus Police and the UA office.
A crowd of people followed the ballot box toward Building 1, but did not catch the thieves. Campus Police found the box about one hour later at Bexley Hall. The box was unlocked, opened, and empty.
A similar incident took place several minutes later at the polling station in Walker Memorial, where two men tried to take the ballot box. According to several witnesses, a quick-acting Hans C. Godfrey '93, UA Floor Leader, grabbed the box from the men before they were able to take it away. The thwarted thieves used force in their attempt to take the ballot box, Godfrey said.
The ballots were finally recovered about one month later, after an anonymous caller told The Tech that the ballots were in Lobby 7. The ballots, which were originally taken by Campus Police as evidence, were eventually returned to the UA.
Candidates running in the March election were upset to hear that the ballots had been stolen.
"Basically, I think it stinks," said Mark A Sherschberg '95, a candidate for class vice president. "It is incredibly rude of these people, after all that has been done by the candidates, to just steal the ballot box and call the election into question."
UA President Shally Bansal '93, who ran in that election, agreed. "It's annoying: that's one reaction I have. But I also find it despicably disgusting."
"If they're trying to make a statement, there are many ways to make it, and that's not the right way to do it," she said.
Students whose ballots had been stolen were given the opportunity to recast their votes at a special election on March 13. Nearly 500 of the close to 700 students whose ballots were lost had voted in the special election by March 17, and many others voted later at the UA office. After the UA Council approved the use of ballots from the special election, it declared Bansal and her running mate, David J. Kessler '94, the winners.
Thieves felt UA was ineffective
Students involved in the SRG described their action as one of liberation from a government that did not care about student needs.
"The SRG feels that the UA is ineffectual," said the group's self-proclaimed ideological leader, identified by a number of sources as Peter S. Yesley '92, in an anonymous telephone interview one day after the theft. The caller said, "It was [the group's] right to incorporate a new government."
The so-called revolutionary group announced itself in a two-page "manifesto" distributed in dormitories and Institute buildings early the morning after the theft. The document said that "whenever any form of government becomes apathetic ... it is the right of students to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government."
The caller described the theft as the first stage in a revolution against the UA, but refused to discuss future plans. "It would be nice if I could tell you all the plans of the government. But then it wouldn't be the Student's Revolutionary Government; it would be my government. That's not fair. That's not democratic."
When asked what services he felt a democratic student government should provide, the caller indicated that Student's social lives would be greatly improved if student government were truly effective.
UAC asks for punishment
At its April 15 meeting, the UA Council voted unanimously to ask the Dean's Office to conduct hearings for five of the students thought to have been involved with the theft. In a resolution, the council reserved "the right to recommend to the ODUESA any appropriate sanctions" to be levied against the five students implicated in the theft-- Brown, Ross A. Lippert '93, Valerie J. Ohm '93, Ralph A. Santos '92, and Yesley.
When asked by a council member if these five students were definitely involved in the theft, Election Commissioner Raajnish A. Chitaley '95 said that only Campus Police and Arthur C. Smith, dean for undergraduate education and student affairs, had access to the names.
He added, "The UA has no power to investigate the matter independently. We have to take their word for it. There is no investigative body on this board."
"This bill is just a call for a hearing -- no municipal action will be taken," added J. Paul Kirby '92, the outgoing UA vice president.
Chitaley explained that "the Dean's Office needs for someone to be a victim. As a council, we will send three people to represent all of us and be the victim. I'd like to stress that one ballot box alone costs over $800."
In the end, all of the students except for Brown were heard by Neal Dorow, adviser to fraternities and independent living groups, and Andrew M. Eisenmann '75, assistant dean for student affairs. The four accused students were finally told to pay a $60 fine and perform 25 hours of community service as punishment for their actions.
Lippert was not upset about the $60 fine, meant to reimburse the UA for the money it spent to hold a second election. "Given that I know at least a couple of people who didn't really come forward the same way we did, I think I'll be able to cut that down to $30," Lippert said.
View Archives