Undergraduate Council Election Results Held

Although the results won't be public before tonight, most of the races for seats on the Undergraduate Council have already been decided--except for those in Dudley House where voting will continue over the weekend.

The council's extension of the deadline for voting in the non-resident house comes in response to complaints from students and Dudley House officials that the elections were not adequately publicized, said council Vice Chairman Elizabeth M. Touhey '86, who supervises elections.

Council flyers advertising the election, posted in the houses, Freshman Union and Dudley House's Lehman Hall headquarters did not adequately inform students living off campus of the balloting times, said Steven Colarossi '86, an incumbent council member. "In years past they [at the council] have had signs all over campus," he said.

Although Touhey said elections ran smoothly in the 12 other houses and in the Freshman dorms, results can't be determined until tonight due to the complicated vote tallying procedure the council uses.

Touhey said the number of people running for seats was average for the four years the council has held elections. There are 154 people vying for positions.

Voter turnout figures had not been determined yet, Touhey said.

The change in the Dudley House's election time table comes only two weeks after council officers extended nomination deadlines for a number of races, citing poor publicity as the cause of the poorest show of interest in the council's four-year history.

Council officers blamed Harvard Student Agencies (HSA), which was hired to publicize nomination procedures, for a failure to poster adequately. The officers said that the lack of wide publicity resulted in a smaller than normal field of candidates.

An HSA manager said the charges were incorrect and that bad weather had destroyed the posters.

After that first, limited deadline change, officers rolled nomination and voting deadlines back for all races, citing disruptions caused by Hurricane Gloria.

The council uses the Hare system of proportional representation method to tabulate election results.

Vote counters use the voter turnout to find a minimum number of first place votes a candidate needs to win a spot on the council. Once tabulaters determine that a candidate has earned a slot by getting the required number of top-picks, additional votes for the candidates are disregarded and counters weigh second-place votes as top selections to figure other races.

Yesterday also saw the end of voting in elections for Class Marshals, the eight members of the senior class charged with planning activities such as reunions.

Results of those elections will not be available until Tuesday, said Victor A. Koivumaki III '68, who runs the elections for Class Marshal.