Marvin Loses Overseer Election 100 Ballots May Be Discarde

The Board of Overseers this morning will probably toss out more than 100 unauthorized ballots submitted in this year's Overseers election.

But their action will have no effect on the controversial candidacy of Langdon P. Marvin Jr. '41, the first man to campaign for the Board in Harvard's history. Although the names of the six new Overseers will not be announced until this afternoon, reliable sources said yesterday that Marvin's would not be among them.

The tossing out of the ballots, however, could trigger court action against the University. Francis C. Powers '41, who printed and mailed hundreds of the ballots to members of his class, said yesterday he is willing to go to the U.S. Supreme Court to see that his vote -- and hence all the others -- are counted.

Marvin 'Way Behind

But Powers, who supports Marvin's candidacy, added he will not go to court unless the unauthorized ballots could make some difference in the results. Only in that case, his lawyer advises him, would the courts consider looking into the election process. And it was reliably learned yesterday that Marvin is much further than 100 votes away from sixth place.

Despite Marvin's defeat, the Overseers will discuss an issue that he raised: the rule that graduates of Harvard, Radcliffe and the graduate schools have to wait five years before they can vote in the Overseers election. "Harvard would benefit from its recent graduates' immediately exercising the right and responsibility to vote," Marvin wrote to the CRIMSON last March.

Change Would Require Law

Many overseers agree with him. But to change the rule, they will have to get a bill through the Massachusetts General Court (legislature). The General Court first passed the rule 101 years ago and still, for historical reasons, must approve any change in the Overseers election procedure.

It is likely that the Board will wait until after the November elections and then talk to the new state leadership about getting the bill a friendly legislative reception.

This, however, is unlikely to satisfy either Marvin or Powers. Powers' complaints are based on the way this year's elections have been handled. "I think that the professionals in the overseers play the election the way Toscanini plays an orchestra," he said yesterday. "They have several techniques for fooling with it."

Fixing the Election

Powers charged that the Overseers send reminders to selected alumni who they think will vote "their slate" but not to others. And some alumni never receive a ballot or never have their request for a duplicate ballot honored, he said.

Sargent Kennedy '28, Secretary to the Corporation and the Board of Overseers, said in an interview earlier this week that everyone who explained his reason for wanting a duplicate ballot got one promptly. Those who mailed in an unauthorized ballot were sent letters asking whether they had misplaced their official ballot and needed another one, Kennedy explained. Powers, who voted on one of his own ballots, said he never got such a letter.

His unofficial ballots -- close replicas, down to Kennedy's signature, of the original -- were designed to help alumni who had misplaced their official ballots, Powers said. Marvin was told in advance that the unauthorized ballots were being mailed out, Powers added, and he did not express disapproval.

Ballots Requests Not Recognized

Marvin himself mailed cards to members of his class on which he said they could request duplicate ballots from Kennedy's office. Kennedy's office, however, did not recognize them, and mailed out letters asking those who had used the cards to state their reason for wanting another ballot.

The Overseers will probably not reply to these complaints, and, with Marvin's defeat, the complaints may be forgotten. But what may not be forgotten are old splits in the Class of 1941 that Marvin's candidacy has partly reopened.

The splits can be traced back at least to 1947, Powers said yesterday, when Marvin ran for chairman of the permanent class committee. Though Marvin was a popular First Class Marshal in 1941, a faction of the committee was opposed, for personal reasons, to his campaign in 1947. The faction boycotted the election meeting and Marvin was finally elected by Powers, Morris Yarosh '41 and several proxy votes, all of which added up to a clear majority.

In 1956, the faction charged that Marvin was unfit for class leadership. This time they were joined by Powers, and formed a special committee of Powers, George H. Hanford '41 and David D. Henry '41. This committee has been leading class affairs ever since.

Since that time, there has been some reconciliation -- between Marvin Powers, for example. "I'm convinced that Marvin, as he stands now, is worth ordinary men," Powers said yesterday. And, in April, the class committee stated formally that, as a group, it was neither for nor against any Overseers candidate.

But interested members of the Class 1941 now know which members of class committee were for Marvin and which against. Between the two groups there is breach that may be irreparable.