UA voting results to be announced today

After two weeks of campaigning by 53 students seeking seats on the Undergraduate Assembly, the Nominations and Elections Committee will meet tonight to announce the winners. The NEC -- which tallied the votes last night -- announced that none of the candidates filed charges alleging violations of the group's Fair Practices Code, which governs all aspects of student government campaigning. By contrast, last year's controversial elections saw 28 charges and in 1997, 44 out of 56 UA candidates were charged with violating FPC rules. The NEC also announced voter turnout figures last night. Committee officials said 1,220 students -- 17 percent of eligible voters -- voted in this year's election. Of those 1,220 students, 626 voted by paper ballot and 594 voted on-line. This year's voter turnout is slightly higher than the spring election average of 12 to 15 percent. Last year's spring voting had a 25 percent voter turnout, which NEC officials attributed to a controversial referendum on UA funding of fraternity events. The referendum was eventually thrown out because of FPC violations. The NEC will announce the 25 winners in the UA elections as well as the victors in each class board vote. The new UA Executive Board will be not be elected until the annual transition meeting, for which the NEC has yet to announce a date. The 53 candidates this year included 16 incumbents running for a position on the 33-member body. Eight of those seats are reserved for freshmen who will not be elected until the fall. NEC Chairperson Neha Champaneria, a Wharton senior, said the group was "psyched" that there were no charges filed this year. Candidates have been charged in the past for such things as violating the FPC's poster policy and e-mail regulations and for failing to properly file expense forms. The NEC itself can be charged by candidates for mismanaging elections. Twenty-three candidates ran for the 16 available College UA seats. There were eight College UA incumbents, including current Vice Chairperson Michael Bassik, a sophomore. Bassik is expected to run for UA chairperson at the transition meeting, replacing Wharton junior Bill Conway, who did not run for re-election. The race for Wharton seats on the UA -- which had 12 candidates competing for four available seats, a one-seat drop from last year -- was the most contested race. Five incumbents, including current UA Treasurer and sophomore Jonathan Glick, sought re-election. There were seven candidates running for the four available Engineering seats, including three incumbents. And one candidate, newcomer Kimberly Colopinto, ran for the single Nursing UA seat. The NEC will also announce the results for the class board elections, which it has conducted for the second year in a row. All senior class board candidates ran unopposed with the exception of current Junior Class President Lisa Marshall, a College student, who was challenged by Wharton junior and former Daily Pennsylvanian Credit Manager Matthew Benbassat. There was no candidate for Nursing representative. Three candidates, all newcomers, ran for junior class president. The Junior Class Board was unable to attract candidates to run for secretary, treasurer, vice president of corporate sponsorship or the College and Nursing representatives. There was a five-way race for sophomore class president between current Freshman Class President Alex Tolbert of the College and four challengers. All other sophomore class positions had candidates, with the exception of the Engineering representative. Appointments will be made, most likely in the fall, by the class boards and the NEC to all class board positions that remain unfilled.

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