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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 2015)
read the fine print. iDattalion Classifieds Call 845-0569 To Place Your Ad ANSWERS to todays puzzles TWO LOCATIONS TO DONATE AT! {979}315-4101 I {979} 314-3672 4223 Wellborn Rd 700 University Dr E., Ste 111 Bryan, TX 77801 | College Station, IX 77840 <J> <c a> Tickets $5 Students $10 General Admission Available at the MSC Box Office Call 979.845.1234 IElLAI For iiformation, call 979.847.2787 ♦ aupa@tamu.edu♦ academyartsiamu.odu ♦ www.fecebook.com/AVPAatTAIvtU THE BATT Mark Dore, Editor in Chief Aimee Breaux, Managing Editor Katie Canales, Life & Arts Editor Jennifer Reiley, Asst. Managing Editor Carter Karels, Sports Editor Lindsey Gawlik, News Editor Shelby Knowles, Photo Editor Samantha King, Asst. News Editor Allison Bradshaw, Asst. Photo Editor Katy Stapp, Asst. News Editor Meredith Collier, Page Designer John Rangel, SciTech Editor Claire Shepherd, Page Designer THE BATTALION is published daily, Monday through Friday during the fail and spring semesters and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer session (except University holidays and exam periods) at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. Offices are in Suite L400 of the Memorial Student Center. News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in Student Media, a unit of the Division of Student Affairs. Newsroom phone: 979-845-3315; E-mail: editor@thebatt.com; website: http:// www.thebatt.com. Advertising: Publication of advertising does not imply sponsorship or endorsement by The Battalion. For campus, local, and national display advertising, call 979- 845-2687. For classified advertising, call 979-845-0569. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday Email: battads@thebatt.com. Subscriptions^ part of the University Advancement Fee entitles each Texas A&M student to pick up a single copy of The Battalion. First copy free, additional copies $1. The Battalion I 2.23.15 2 EDITORIALBOARD Handling of Yell Leader elections raises the question: Why "gig the vote' at all? he controversy is in the numbers, but the trend is clear — after four I years of inconsistency, yet another ambiguous Yell Leader election result highlights the shortcomings of the election commission’s instant runoff system. The vote-counting method for Texas A&M’s most visible representa tives has again flip-flopped. It begs the question, Why should students “gig the vote” if the voting system is ambiguous and inconsistently applied? Students expect the ability to vote for three Senior Yell Leader candidates — one ballot, three equally weighted votes. This year and in 2013, each ballot was only counted once. After a messy 2012 election season, the elec tion commission eliminated the need for runoffs by implementing its cur rent system. In its third iteration, that system continues to fail students voting for Senior Yell Leader. It didn’t matter in 2013, when no candidate posed a significant threat to the Corps of Cadets block, 5 For Yell. This year, though, the race featured four strong contenders — one had to be pushed out. Incumbent Ben Ritchie fell short in the announced results Friday, while Steven Lanz and cadets Kyle Cook and Zach Lawrence won. But the votes were improperly tallied, and the trio that was announced Friday might not be the same that trots onto Kyle Field in Yell Leader whites after the SGA Judicial Court rules on a filed appeal Wednesday. For that, the election commission and its system — begun in 2013 by then-election commissioner Allison Krenzien and continued today by Emma Douglas — deserve the blame. The problem is not a new one. In 2013, an appeal tiled by a Yell Leader sought an injunction against the election results announcement and a revamped tabulation process. None of it mattered that year — 5 For Yell’s candidates won by a wide margin. A 2013 editorial in The Battalion, titled “Instant runoff system could distort yell results,” pointed to the clear weakness in the system. That the commission failed to correct the flaw is an embarrassment and a deterrent to future voter turnout. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the instant runoff system if it is implemented consistently and students understand it. Still, a simple look at the voting numbers of the last four years reveal the way it has been misapplied. In 2012, the last year before instant runoff, about 36,000 votes were cast across 14,600 ballots, or about 2.5 votes per ballot. That’s to be expected, as some students can choose not to vote for three candidates. In 2013 — the first year of instant runoff — 11,800 ballots registered 11,700 votes, or about one per ballot. In 2014, under the same instant run off system, 2.3 votes were counted per ballot, indicating the system can work under the right calculation model. Then came 2015, when the votes per ballot dipped near one. Once again, the system only tabulated first-place votes. The error could be a simple IT matter outside the commis sion’s immediate control. But the stark contrast in votes per ballot should have alerted the commission to the problem before it gathered the student body around Sully and announced inaccurate results. Historically, incumbent cadets like Ritchie and Lawrence rarely lose, and non-regs like Lanz rarely win. The rare combination of circumstances should have prompted a second look. 5 For Yell campaigns as a block, so many ballots that named one cadet — Cook, Lawrence and Ritchie — likely named all three. Many Lanz supporters, in contrast, likely voted only for Lanz. A recount will change the entire landscape drastically. It’s impossible to predict where things will land. To some degree, it stands to reason that Aimee Breaux — THE BATTALION SGA Election Commissioner Emma Douglas announces election results Friday in Academic Plaza. The Battalion s editorial opinion is determined b)> its Board of Opinion, until the editor in chief hatHltgfinal responsibility. Mark Dore Editor in Chief Aimee Breaux Managing Editor Jennifer Reiley Assistant Managing Editor John Rangel Science & Technology Editor in counting only first-place ballots the results inflate Lanz’s tally and suppress the cadets’. The final order might remain the same, but the announced results were inaccurate, just as many — The Bat talion included — predicted two years ago. The election commission failed to recognize its system’s weaknesses. Now, the candidates and their student supporters have to deal with the con sequences. YELL LEADER CONTINUED considering each student re ceives three possible votes for Senior Yell Leader. “If there were 11,217 ballots cast, there was the opportunity for 33,651 actual votes to be cast (11,217x3.) Now logically, not everyone will use all three of their votes, however, the final vote tally should still be signifi cantly higher than the 11,217 on the results,” the appeal stated. With the results being so close, and a potential 22,282 votes going uncounted, a more precise recount is needed to de termine the true winners of the race, the appeal states. “It is my belief that only people who ranked a candidate in the No. 1 spot had their bal lots counted. Their votes placed at No. 2 and No. 3 were ir relevant. This is contradictory to what should have happened — each voter’s ‘Top 3’ should count equally the same,” the ap peal said. Emma Douglas, the SGA election commissioner against whom the appeal was filed, said the problems stem from techno logical issues and work is being done to ensure the accuracy of the results. “The Yell Leader race had more to do with the IT program that we use to run our elections,” Douglas said. “I’m talking to the IT department to see if it’s pos sible to [count the votes] the way that they want it, but I’m not an IT expert so that’s why I’ni hav ing a meeting with them.” Douglas said she will cooper ate fully and listen to suggestions to ensure the accuracy of the re sults and hear the true voice of constituents. “We’re just wanting to make sure the elections are run in the most fair way possible,” Douglas said. “I’m more than open to any questions or suggestions as to how we can make that happen.” Another appeal filed Sun day on Lanz’s behalf by Aaron Mitchell, Student Senate rules and regulations chair, argued Lanier’s case should be dismissed because it was improperly filed and fails to name the proper par ties. “As it stands, Steven Lanz won the Senior Yell Leader election,” Mitchell said. “Be cause of this, he has something at stake in the case. According to the rules, he deserves representa tion inJ-Court.” Chief Justice Brenton Cooper opted to consolidate the appeals — now titled Lanier vs. Douglas and Lanz — : because of a “his torically high concentration” of election-related cases. J-Court will consider two questions: whether to dismiss the case on the grounds it was improperly filed and whether the votes were counted incorrectly. It will be heard at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in Koldus 111. BENIGN0 CONTINUED The appeal also includes three violations of elec tion rules against displaying campaign material off- campus and two violations against more than four people campaigning in one place. Benigno said he and his team are confident they campaigned “with the utmost integrity.” “We will contest any and all allegations regard ing the legitimacy of the SBP election results,” Be nigno said in a statement to The Battalion. “We are confident that the decision the student body made on Friday will ultimately be upheld by the Judicial Court.” Former Student Senate speaker and aerospace engineering graduate student Christopher Russo filed the appeal. In it, he says students filed the vio lations Thursday but the election commission issued no fines and no explanation was given for the lack of fines. In addition to Benigno, the appeal is filed against Election Commissioner Emma Douglas. According to the appeal, another candidate for student body president, Isaiah Tsau, who received 22 percent of the initial vote as reported Friday, received $500 in fines from two major violations for campaigning in off-limit areas. “Due to this precedent set by the Election Com mission, any violations for Off-Campus Campaign ing should be considered Major Violations,” the appeal states. The appeal requests any fines be applied against Benigno’s $2,000 campaign budget. If the fines push his expenses over the limit, he could be disqualified. “During my campaign, I made sure my team fol lowed the rules of campaigning and at all times rep resented themselves and Texas A&M with honor and integrity,” Murtha said in a statement to The Battalion. “As such, we expected all other entities involved to act in the same manner.” J-Court has voted to accept the case, according to Chief Justice Brenton Cooper. It will be heard at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. The location was not yet determined at the time of press. Freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, grad students THIS WEEK get your picture taken for Texas A&M's 2015 Aggieland yearbook, if you didn't last fall. Your portrait sitting is free. Just walk in 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Thursday in the Student Media office. Suite L400 of the MSC. February 23-March 12 will be your last chance. It's your yearbook. Be in it.