Elections marred by disputes

Voting in USG elections began Sunday amid a flurry of campaigning, controversy in the presidential race and minor technical difficulties.

Freddy Flaxman '07 withdrew from the presidential race Friday after the USG sharply rebuked him for violating election rules and rejected a subsequent appeal. This marks the second consecutive year in which Flaxman has been reprimanded by USG elections managers for campaign conduct.

Another candidate, Jeremy Johnson '07, was also penalized for violating rules. He was given 49 points, just short of the 50 that would have disqualified his candidacy.

Flaxman and Johnson were both cited for disregarding poster rules, which stipulate that candidates cannot cover up other candidates' posters with their own or place more than one poster per bulletin board. Johnson was additionally charged with not sending emails properly and tampering with other candidates' election materials.

Polls will stay open until 12:15 p.m. Tuesday, after a programming error briefly delayed the start of voting.

Flaxman's withdrawal

Flaxman, who chose to drop out of the race after withdrawing a second appeal, defended himself against accusations of impropriety.

"[The] elections process [is] rife with injustice, unfairness, and corruption," Flaxman said in an email Friday afternoon to supporters announcing his withdrawal. "As this is the case, the USG is not a body that I would like to be a part of."

"The elections have to be fair, or else the entire government is illegitimate," Flaxman added in an interview Friday evening. "I have no animosity toward specific members of the USG. The election process was flawed and unfair, and it is because of this that I choose not to be part of the election."

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USG President Leslie-Bernard Joseph '06 defended the organization against Flaxman's accusations, calling Flaxman's allegations "essentially something that is untrue."

A statement to The Daily Princetonian signed by 14 of the 23 voting members of the Senate emphasized that Flaxman "was given due process and treated fairly throughout the elections process."

The statement noted that he "repeatedly violated elections regulations" and that during the appeals process, "many senators felt Mr. Flaxman made some inconsistent statements to the degree that he may have deceived the Election Managers and voting members of the Senate" — an action that would result in an automatic 50-point penalty.

Flaxman called the statement "a fabrication" and "an attempt to smear my name."

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The statement was signed by all but two of the Senate members not currently running for president or vice president.

After Flaxman received 49 penalty points for violating restrictions on postering, he appealed the decision, arguing that the election managers had relied on "dubious evidence" consisting primarily of photographs taken by another candidate.

"The fact is that the fliers could have been posted by anyone," Flaxman told the 'Prince.'

After Flaxman's appeal was rejected, he withdrew a subsequent request for a second appeal and dropped out of the race.

Flaxman also received 49 points in the 2004 vice-presidential election for an email that USG elections managers interpreted as implying that the Jadwin Jungle, a basketball fan club Flaxman founded, might have ceased to exist if he were not elected.

Joseph said this year's alleged violations were investigated thoroughly by the election managers. Even if the fliers had been maliciously posted by someone else, he added, Flaxman was notified of all the violations and had 18 hours to remove the double postings. Flaxman did not do so, Joseph said, citing a notice about an infraction well after Flaxman had been notified, and that alone would have disqualified him according to election rules.

But Flaxman maintained that he and his staff walked around to "every location the elections managers cited to take the posters down."

Joseph also said some of the senators hearing the case came to believe that Flaxman had misled them and the election managers. Though members of Flaxman's campaign admitted to the USG panel that they had double-posted, Flaxman denied this before the body, Joseph said.

Flaxman noted that his staff only admitted to "one or two" of the 11 double-flyering infractions.

He, who emphasized that he took issue with election rules and not with individual USG members, also responded with some accusations of his own.

In the email to supporters, he alleged that the USG had violated its own rules in the composition of the election committee, citing the USG constitution, which states that the "elections managers shall be the three most senior elected members of the USG Executive Committee who are not currently running for election."

An overhaul of rules approved in 2002 states, however, that the three-member committee shall be comprised of a senior election manager, who is a top USG officer but not the president, and two deputy managers.

Flaxman also argued that a major conflict of interest exists because an elections manager, Jesse Creed '07, is the roommate of a presidential candidate, Tom Brown '07, who currently serves as USG undergraduate life chair.

"How can it not be a conflict of interest?" Flaxman said. "The fact that a conflict of interest could exist should result in the selection of a new elections manager."

But Joseph cited an email communication with Flaxman — a copy of which was provided to The Daily Princetonian — about the potential conflict before the election process began, in which Joseph reassured him about the concerns and Flaxman thanked him for considering the issue.

"I just want to make it perfectly clear that the USG ... handles all its procedures with care," Joseph said. "Everything that has been done has been thought through and thought through carefully."

Johnson's penalties

After Johnson received 49 points for allegedly tampering with other candidates' materials, he was instructed to shut down his election website within 18 hours.

The claim was later retracted by the candidate who made it, though at least one senator said in an email at the time that he still believed Johnson had violated the rules.

After several email correspondences with elections managers, Johnson modified his website to include information he said he thought was permissible. He was later informed by elections managers that the website was still in violation of the rules.

After two appeals, Johnson was kept at 49 points but was permitted to stay in the race, elections manager Dara Deshe '07 said.

Further requests for appeals were not granted.

Johnson criticized the decision, noting that the website only would have been "a crime because of the previous crime," and the tampering accusation had been dropped.

He characterized the USG's final decision as based on a "very illogical argument."

"The system does not work," Johnson said. "They are essentially leveling punishments that don't knock me out of the race but make it hard to campaign."