Following continued allegations of voter fraud and ballot compromise, the school’s administration confirmed on 27 May that the results of the election held on 17 May will be nullified. Taking over SAC’s traditional organization of its own elections, the administrative staff will be executing a complete re-election from 29 to 31 May.
Vice-principal Liebster said she aims to have the results announced on Monday 3 June, though an early announcement the afternoon of Friday 31 May is not impossible.
As in the 17 May election, only students in grades nine through eleven will be eligible to vote. Because many students have home forms (first period classes) inconsistent with their grade level, the voting days are centred about home form as follows:
Eligible voters in grade eleventh and twelfth grade home forms will vote on Wednesday 29 May, those in tenth grade home forms will vote on Thursday 30 May, and those in ninth grade home forms will vote on Friday 31 May.
Eligible voters with a first period spare may vote on any day from 29 to 31 May during first period in the cafeteria. Votes will not be accepted at any other time.
The decision to hold a complete re-election follows two previous partial re-elections: one for students with first period spare and a second for all eligible voters for the position of graduation convenor (i.e. students in grade 11). Both of these re-elections were called due to non-confidence in the election procedure.
When announced, the results of the 17 May election were immediately met with non-confidence from the student body. Candidates and voters alike voiced their concerns to SAC, The Reckoner, and the school’s administration.
Principal Goldenberg told The Reckoner in a statement that she was “very disappointed” with the execution of the election. The administration found severe cases of ballot-stuffing: in one case, a class with only six students submitted over twenty ballots. Many of the non-verifiable ballots displayed a very similar voting pattern, which led the administration to conclude the existence of a serious, centralized rigging force in the election.
Principal Goldenberg and the four vice principals made an executive decision to cancel the election results. Assessing non-confidence in SAC’s ability to run the election of its own executives, the five administrators will be solely executing the 29-31 May re-election.
The administration does not plan to control the election every year. Rather, Principal Goldenberg said that future elections will be student-run under a new administration-imposed protocol, in the making to prevent future failures.
SAC President Soheil Koushan wished to address the student body regarding the incident: “I’d like to apologize for our lack of diligence in organizing the election. We never expected such gross attempts at voter fraud, but we did not do enough to prevent it.”
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On Saturday 25 May, The Reckoner published a preliminary look at the sources and causes of voter fraud in an investigative editorial. In that article, The Reckoner joined a number of members of the student body in calling for a complete re-election.