Past VSA elections reveal history of voting blunders

Emma Epstein Assistant Life Editor

Student government has existed in some form at Vassar since 1868. Since then, it has changed with the times, adopting different names and constitutions, and undergoing two complete overhauls. But no matter what troubles arose, elections have been held every year. Although each year was monumental to the candidates involved, some years’ elections proved to be more exciting (and troublesome) than others.

1978—Campaign finance reform

Record turnouts for the elections held in the spring of 1978 resulted in the election of Ross Goodman as president of the Student Government Association (SGA) and the disqualification of vice presidential candidate Genny McSweeney. On March 3, 1978, The Miscellany News wrote that the Board of Elections disqualified McSweeney for “violation of the campaign expenditure provisions of the SGA bylaws.” The controvery over the SGA vice-president was expanded when a “massive write-in effort launched on behalf of vice presidential candidate Melanie Czarra was thwarted” when the elections chair disqualified all write-in votes. Despite the controversy over vice president, the elections committee chair claimed a 75 percent turnout, one of the highest in recent years.

1984—Vassar Student Association (VSA) elections go digital

Students wondered if their recent elections had been inspired by George Orwell’s novel as VSA elections became computerized. Almost all were in favor of the new system, which required students to enter their social security number to prevent rampant corruption that had happened in years past. Vassar overwhelmingly re-elected the VSA president with a vote of 926 to 305.
1988—Third time’s the charm

Jewett House voted three times for their president after the Elections Chair made a number of mistakes throughout elections day. After illegally disqualifying one candidate, mistakenly dropping another from the ballot, and leaving ballots unattended in the Stenography Bureau, the Board of Elections Chair called for a re-vote. Soon after, the re-vote was successfully appealed and another election was held the following week. Jewett finally elected its president three days after the rest of the campus.

1990—Loser’s day parade?

The biggest news in the 1990 elections were not the winners but the losers. The losing candidates for VSA president and vice president were both members of the Coalition of Concerned Students which had taken over Main building in February of that year. They took over the building to protest Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) holding the title of Eleanor Roosevelt Distinguished Lecturer. Moynihan had made allegedly racist comments when visiting the campus. The students also protested for the creation of an Inter-Cultural Center and discussion of how tuition dollars were spent. According to the February 16, 1990 issue of The Miscellany News, although many students agreed with the aims of the protest, they felt that taking Main hostage for a day was “taking this too far.” Students in opposition to this expressed their frustration in April, when the losing candidates blamed their losses on their association with the protest group.

Looking Ahead

Clearly, the difficulties VSA encountered in the most recent round of elections are not aberrations, as the gigantic task of organizing campus-wide elections has caused snafus—and notable anecdotes—for years.