Statement on Complaints
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Spring 2018 Election Complaints
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To All Interested Parties of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
We, the members of the CSEC, have completed investigations into all Spring 2018 Election complaints and provides the following notice of outcomes:
Concerning votes that have resulted in ties.
Positions that have resulted in ties will be subject to a run-off election as stated in Article 5.13 of the CSEC Spring 2018 Election Packet: "In the event of a tie, the CSEC shall hold a run-off election between the top two candidates in accordance with the election code. The details for the special election shall be determined at a Public Appeals Review Hearing. All affected candidates will be invited to attend."
Write-in candidate winners.
Votes in which write-in candidates won are pending acceptance by those candidates.
Slating Complaints:
There were numerous slating complaints brought against several candidates for differing offices.
It is the official opinion of the CSEC that all slating complaints have been properly resolved either before or during the election. Furthermore, these actions undertaken by students cannot reasonably account for any difference in voting results.
UIUC Divestment Petition Signatures:
A number of individuals and organizations brought forward a complaint with respect to the garnering of petition signatures by the referendum sponsor’s president. Specifically, that the student was offering a study guide for a class in exchange for signatures. This was brought to the CSEC’s attention after voting began and long after petitions were due.
It is the official opinion of the CSEC that the action undertaken by the student violates academic integrity. As such, because the class had 75 students, the CSEC is retroactively docking 75 signatures from the referendum’s petition. Thus, the UIUC Divestment petition’s total will go from 2,551 to 2,476. Because it still met the signature requirement of above 2,291, it still would have appeared on the ballot. In addition, this case has been referred to the Office of Student Conflict Resolution for potential violations of the Student Code.
Student Trustee Election:
Trayshawn Mitchell will be certified as the winner of the student trustee election. In conjunction with this status, complaints submitted to the CSEC alleging defamatory remarks, collusion, etc. by and against Trayshawn Mitchell and Hercules Analitis have undergone thorough internal investigation; some of the incidents addressed will be referred to the appropriate University departments for further investigation and resolution.
It is the official opinion of the CSEC that the actions undertaken by students operating within student groups and students operating as individuals cannot reasonably account for the difference in voting results in which 880 more votes were cast for the winner of the trustee election as compared to the runner-up.
Referendum Question #4:
"UIUC Divestment from Companies Involved with Human Rights Violations" will be certified as FAILED. In conjunction with this status, these specific complaints submitted to the CSEC have undergone a thorough internal investigation:
- United Illini and their agents allegedly bribing students with Insomnia cookies, Papa John’s pizza, free breakfast, canvassing at bars, filling out ballots using other student’s devices, setting up mobile polling places. Confronting students at midnight pressuring them to vote.
- Students for Justice in Palestine allegedly targeting and harassing Jewish students on multiple occasions.
- Defamatory remarks lodged by and against both above organizations.
- Various similar complaints against both groups.
It is the official opinion of the CSEC that the actions undertaken by students operating within student groups and students operating as individuals is wholly intolerable. However, it cannot reasonably account for the difference in voting results in which 1,433 more votes were cast against the referendum than were cast in support of it. Regardless, these cases and all students involved and identified have been referred to the Office of Student Conflict Resolution investigation into potential violations of the Student Code.
LAS-D Seat Complaints:
Max Shapiro initially contested the LAS-D seat but has since dropped his claim. Michael Vilker has also contested the seat claiming that those voting for him could not see his photo and platform and because the link led to a blank page thus hindering his election results.
Upon investigation, it was determined that Mr. Vilker created a new Photo and Platform boxnote in lieu of the one the CSEC originally created, which meant that the link that was uploaded to the ballot was taking people to a boxnote that no longer existed because you deleted it. The CSEC had gone through and linked the appropriate boxnotes before the ballot went live but looking at the box records Mr. Vilker deleted those boxnotes after the initial linking.
Upon further investigations, the only issue appeared to have been with Mr. Vilker’s UC Senate boxnote and there had been no issues with the ISG Assembly boxnote link. Thus, it is the official opinion of the CSEC that because Mr. Vilker received more votes with a broken link on the UC Senate ballot (253) versus the functioning ISG ballot (232), that it cannot reasonably account for the difference in voting results.
Throughout this election the degree of objectionable and egregious conduct on the part of students of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is utterly unacceptable. Many are simply unbecoming of students at this University. This election has thus made clear to the CSEC that the current Election Code is seriously lacking. As such, the CSEC will immediately begin the process of rewriting the Election Code to better enforce student elections at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The CSEC and its advisory team is committed to maintaining the integrity of the electoral process here at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. We will continue to collaborate with University groups to adjudicate election violations and will build out our policy guidelines and election code to ensure a proper, fair, efficient, and standard means of conducting the annual student elections and referendum.
On behalf of the CSEC,
Andrew J. Schuyler
Chair, Campus Student Election Commission
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
March 12, 2018