Election Results Voided, StuCo Board Expanded
After discovering evidence of election fraud and ballot tampering during the Student Council elections this past spring, Academy administrators and Student Council co-advisers Carol Cahalane and Laura Marshall determined that the fraudulent election results would be void.
“At Exeter, we believe that the best ideas are forged at a table of twelve–and though the Exec Board may not be there quite yet, I think that together we can help StuCo become the force of positive change that it is meant to be.”
The Exonian previously reported, based on the original results, that Jackson Parell ‘18 had been elected president, Tim Han ‘18 vice president and Katie Yang ‘19 secretary. Since a fair re-vote could not be held, given that last year’s seniors had already graduated, all candidates who advanced past the primary stage of the elections were made part of the 2017-18 Executive Board. Currently serving as co-presidents are seniors Menat Bahnasy and Jackson Parell, with seniors Tim Han, Will Soltas and Michael Bamah as co-vice presidents and uppers Tara Weil, Elizabeth Yang and Michaela Phan as co-secretaries.
In a July 8 email sent to the student body, Cahalane stressed that the decision was made with the fact in mind that “it was important to find an expedient solution to this problem so that the Student Council leadership [could] continue its summer work to address students’ needs and interests.”
Parrell said that the decision to expand the board had been a collaborative effort. “We had proposed the idea at the end of last year but, of course, the final call was out of the hands of all candidates,” he said. “Nonetheless, I am sure that our willingness to work together made the decision a lot easier for our advisers and the administration.”
Director of Communications Robin Giampa said in a statement that the faculty learned of potential tampering with election results on May 27 when Parrell brought forward rumors he had heard of ballot tampering. In following with standard procedures, Giampa said that she could not comment on “specific disciplinary actions involving our students,” especially since most happen to be minors. “We can confirm, however, that neither Jackson nor Menat was involved in, nor had any knowledge of, the fraudulent balloting when it occurred; we have no evidence that the tampering was racially or gender motivated,” she added.
In a June 8 Seacoast Online article that reported on the election, Bahnasy commented on the possible motives behind the tampering. “It’s so hard for me to say it was about race and gender, but it’s so hard for me to say it wasn’t. With a lot of external influences like the bigger U.S. election and the atmosphere when it comes to race and gender due to this new presidential administration, it doesn’t really surprise me that it might play a role in something like this.” In that same article, Parell did not speculate about the motives behind the tampering, but did say that he was “disappointed and frustrated with what happened,” and also called for “a new and fair selection process.”
While deciding what this new selection process would look like, Cahalane and Marshall considered an online re-vote. However, they did not feel as though there would be a fair way to accomplish this. “We were not confident that we could reach all voters during the summer months, we could not guarantee an unbiased and/or non-pressured voting environment, and we did not have a means to provide a system that provided confidentiality and anonymity,” they said.
Cahalane and Marshall described their decision to have co-positions as being guided by the “spirit” of the Student Council Constitution. As the situation had no precedent, they had to weigh their options and ultimately chose one that, to them, felt fair to all those involved. “We determined that it would be best, for this one year, to invite all of the candidates who were selected by student body through the primary election process on April 18 to be members of the Executive Board,” they explained. “Per the Constitution, Board members can only hold one position on the Student Council, and we ask that they not hold an editorial position on The Exonian.”
Yang said that she received multiple messages that detailed the “job descriptions” of each post. “There were some emails about how things would be run with eight people, and everyone said that the presidents would still have the same jobs and the same [would be true] for everyone else,” she said. “The roles for each position will now be split among the respective candidates.” Yang articulated her worries during the phone call with Cahalane and Marshall about the number of candidates holding each position. “I voiced the concern that maybe there would be too many ideas on the table to focus on a certain course of action–too many cooks in the kitchen, so to speak,” she said. “However, I think it was the best solution given all that happened and I think there’s a lot of potential on the new board.”
Han, describing the situation as “tragic and messy,” felt as though some actions by members of the administration were too harsh. “It is an incredibly disappointing situation overall for all involved,” he said. “Although the tampering was obviously wrong on many levels, I am not sure that all of the individuals involved deserved the extreme punishments they received.”
Bahnasy felt that more positions will improve Student Council. “I think more minds and perspectives put together is going to make things really productive,” she said. “They’ve also found that, for example, traditionally underrepresented groups are more encouraged to run [when there are more positions] which I think is awesome.”
Bahnasy also said she disliked the idea of a revote. “Everybody that was running put a lot of work in their campaign throughout the spring term. I felt that starting the year on that note [with a revote] might be a little chaotic,” she said. “It’s important to have the seniors of 2017 vote since they’ve been here longer and know what needs to happen in order to make Exeter a greater place, which couldn’t happen since they already left.”
Parrell looks forward to working on the new board, despite the challenge of meeting every member’s goals. “Yes, we have many different campaign promises - and yes, there will be challenges to overcome. But I believe the variety of opinions that comes with an expanded Exec Board will make StuCo more effective and more far reaching than it has ever been before,” he said. “At Exeter, we believe that the best ideas are forged at a table of twelve–and though the Exec Board may not be there quite yet, I think that together we can help StuCo become the force of positive change that it is meant to be.”