Last April's election was voided after allegations of voter fraud and improper conduct surfaced. One of this year's candidates, who requested his name be withheld, provided The Spectrum with the GSA Election Committee Chair's Report from Spring 2002, which outlines reasons behind the nullification and questionable campaign practices on the part of the candidates.
The report states that vice presidential candidate Omar Qadeer was not actually a graduate student in the spring of 2002, making him ineligible to run for office and disqualifying his candidacy.
In addition, Sanjeev Saha, last spring's nominee for treasurer, allegedly used another person's student number to vote on the student's behalf and was disqualified from the current election.
While he admitted to using the student number to vote, he said, "I assumed that that person wouldn't mind."
Allegations of the exchange of t-shirts for student numbers also surfaced, but Saha denied these claims.
Last year's Progress Party, consisting of Chacon, vice presidential candidate Surabhi Sharma and treasurer candidate Marc Lograsso, was called in to question, as stated in the report, for allegedly using GSA equipment for campaigning, an act in violation of the GSA Constitution. They allegedly utilized the postage machine at the Sub-Board I office and a database of residential addresses of club leaders for campaigning purposes.
The elections committee dismissed the charges, which Chacon said were based on "a miscommunication."
According to Chacon, all candidates were under the impression they could use the addresses of club presidents, which his party used solely for distributing flyers with information about the GSA and upcoming elections.
In addition, a member of Chacon's campaign staff from the April election, Suddha Talukdar, is serving as the Election Committee Chair.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
