Elections voided
ELECTIONS FOR THREE executive posts in Somerville JCR are to be re-run following the College's second electoral tribunal this year. The close-run races for President, Male Welfare officer and Female Welfare officer will all be repeated after the tribunal determined that an administrative error could have affected the result.
The tribunal was called after the minutes of hustings were not made available on election day, as required by the JCR constitution. This was because JCR Secretary Rebecca Nicholson had to return home for family reasons, and was not able to type up her draft minutes in time.
Although the tribunal agreed that these circumstances were exceptional, they decided that the matter could have been handled 'more efficiently'.
The elections for President, Male Welfare and Female Welfare had margins of victory of 3,4 and 6 respectively, and so the tribunal decided that the outcome could have been different had the minutes been available. However, they decided that the election for Equal Opportunities and Admissions officer, with a margin of around 20 votes, should not be re-run.
This is the second tribunal to take place in Somerville in three major JCR elections. In Michaelmas, a tribunal was called after Nick Clark narrowly beat Ross Miles in the race for JCR Vice-President, although, on this occasion, the result of the vote was upheld.
No-one from Somerville JCR was prepared to comment until after the re-poll has taken place on Monday of 7th week.
1st Jun 2001