I am writing this because I am sure that Thursday will be filled with curses and screaming about the actions taken by the ASUC Wednesday night. As a participant in those actions, and as someone who shares the concerns of ordinary students and candidates alike, I hope to clarify what the situation is.

The meeting last night was to find a way to rescue the election. I don't think I need to go into the details of the problems the election has been facing, but they are numerous. Essentially, closed polls, long lines, illegal online votes/firewall problems, and a pollworker shortage. Officially, the meeting was a hearing of the Judicial Council, and was under their auspices.

I was asked to attend the meeting, to represent the interests of independents and minor party candidates, of whom I gathered the input of about a dozen. I also was invited due to my knowledge of past elections, and because I have been assisting the ASUC Attorney General. Also at the meeting were members of the Judicial Council, Elections Council, representatives of the Student Action, CalSERVE, Squelch!, DAAP, and APPLE parties, the Daily Cal, most of the Senate, and other interested people.

The meeting lasted 7 hours, and the focus was essentially to determine what we do now. After much discussion, it was determined that if voting continued on Thursday, it would resemble Wednesday in terms of problems. The Elections Council chair has been awake for 55 hours, there was a massive shortage of pollworkers, everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and there was no confidence that these issues could be fixed by Thursday or even Friday. Proposals discussed were, in order of severity, 1) voiding the election and holding a new one in 2 weeks, 2) moving immediately to online voting, and 3) suspending voting for a few days to allow a time to regroup and then continue the election next week. Continuing the election on Thursday and Friday simply would have been more of the same problems that we have had this week thus far. After more discussion, option 3 was the one adopted.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday there will be voting at all locations and with sufficient computers to avoid lines. All votes cast thus far will be included in the tally. All campaign violations will carry over, as this is a continuation of the existing election, not a new election.

This decision makes no one happy. But this situation needed a remedy, and it is unfortunate that this was the only option open. Three more days of voting next week is awful, but it was the least awful option. If it were all possible, we would have sucked up and gone ahead Thursday and Friday. However, that's what we did Tuesday and Wednesday, and it's been a fiasco.

The Judicial Council has taken charge of creating a blueprint for managing the election, and many micromanaging details have been worked out to ensure absolutely positively that the mistakes of the past two days will not reappear next week. Funds have been committed by the ASUC Auxiliary to carry out a fair, legitimate election.

There was also a concern that whatever action taken by this group could be overturned by anyone who files a lawsuit, or by the President issuing an executive order (the Daily Cal erroneously states that the President can overturn any actions taken by the Judicial Council). I believe we remedied these issues; any lawsuits to invalidate the election based on the last two days will have a much higher standard to be accepted. The Judicial Council has the authority to override any executive order that conflicts with their ruling tonight, and has pledged to exercise their power to do so (since they don't want to have this hearing process be a waste). Suffice it to say that MTW voting is what is going to happen, and any attempt to overturn it will have a tough time, because any remedy that could be suggested has already been considered.

It has been a difficult week for many people. I just felt I had to provide a fuller story to answer the questions that will likely be asked, or screamed, Thursday.

Yours,
Joseph Henchman