ELECTIONS LOST IN SHIT
Last term's OUSU delegate elections have been called into question after allegations coming to light about the validity of the counting process. Sources have approached the OxStu with the claim that an election recount, held secretly in the OUSU offices, had to be abandoned after the first floor was covered in raw sewage.
The election for the twelve Council delegates was postponed at the general count in November because of lack of time, and rescheduled for the following week. It was then announced that James Cloyne of the 'Proper Union' slate and Lib Dem Tom Lavercombe had not been elected.
Several OUSU insiders claim, however, that ballot papers were miscounted, due to the complexities of the Single Transferable Vote System. One source who refused to be named told the OxStu that "they worked out that the STV system in the first count was carried out incorrectly about a week after the election. The redistributed ballot papers hadn't been given the right transfer values, which changed the result of the election."
He continued to allege that the delegate recount had been carried out on the floor of the OUSU shop by Returning Officer Nick Bennett and successful VP Women candidate Catherine Wallis. It was then claimed that the ballot papers were left on the floor overnight and then damaged when a problem with the drains covered the entire first floor in human effluent.
OUSU President Will Straw confirmed that there had been a flood in eighth week. It was caused by a blockage in the toilets in the 3rd floor flats, which ended up overflowing onto OUSU's first floor premises.
Straw stated, however, he had "no knowledge" of any recount having taken place. Bennett himself refuted the allegations outright, saying that: "there wasn't a recount; if there had been, we'd have issued new figures". Wallis also stated that, "I didn't actually count any papers."
Ex-DRO James Shoesmith disagreed with this version of events, however, claiming that "Catherine mentioned that a recount had certainly been started before the flood", but was not sure whether it had been completed before the papers were lost. It had, however, progressed "far enough to determine which twelve delegates should have been elected, and Cloyne would certainly have sneaked in in twelfth place." The ballot papers themselves are now unavailable for further study, and the customary breakdown of election results, college by college, is not yet available. Bennett stated that he had "lost" them.
Joe Taylor, the Proper Union candidate who risks losing his vote in Council, described the whole proceedings as "very dodgy." Cloyne said the events had been "really upsetting... it's outrageous that, if this turns out to be true, everyone is still in the dark." But a friend of Bennett was less guarded. He told the OxStu, "As a result of this, people will be voting in OUSU Council who did not win an election. The failure to disclose his error cheats every OUSU member, whose funds helped pay for him to do this job."
9th Jan 2003