The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 23, 2015, Image 2

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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://
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Subscriptions^ part of the University Advancement Fee entitles each Texas A&M
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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
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Aggieland yearbook,
if you didn't last fall. Your
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