The election for the postgraduate and undergraduate fellows of the University Senate has been suspected due to “allegations of possible irregularities,” in the ballots.
The news was communicated to all of the candidates in an email from the Returning Officer and the University says it is “considering these allegations carefully.”
No detail on the nature of the irregularities was given in the email. The multiple candidates who approached Honi Soit with the email, said they had no information on the “allegations”.
“None of us have any idea what is happening,” said one candidate.
Ballot irregularities could mean that one or multiple candidates are no longer eligible for the position or that votes were tampered with.
The election bylaw quoted in the email also refers to the “conduct” of the election.
Throughout the campaign, Honi has been approached by multiple campaigns alleging misconduct. Corflutes being destroyed and voters being bribed using money transfers on social media have all been reported to the University.
The University put all the candidates through extensive background checks before the ballot was drawn and at that point was satisfied that all candidates were eligible to run.
Voting was supposed to close this afternoon with the results declared soon after. There are four candidates running in the postgraduate race and eight candidates running for undergraduate fellow.
A University spokesperson did not answer specific questions about the nature of the irregularities but told Honi in a statement that “we acknowledge that suspending the declaration of results is unsettling for candidates.”
“We are committed to upholding the procedural fairness and integrity of the election so that the potential irregularities can be appropriately considered,” they said.
