Elections manager Darling '12 to resign over errors

“Addie’s accidental errors unnecessarily complicated this voting cycle, and as a result I have spoken with Addie and asked for her resignation,” Diemand-Yauman said in the statement.

Because of Darling’s oversight, candidates Jonathan Hezghia and Jamie Joseph did not receive e-mails with instructions for submitting candidate statements and confirming the spelling of their names on the ballot. Hezghia’s name was misspelled on the ballot as “Hezghin.”

Hezghia saw the errors on the voting website and contacted USG information technology chair Michael Yaroshefsky ’12, who posted both candidates’ photos and statements more than two hours after voting began last Monday. But Yaroshefsky informed Hezghia he could not modify the spelling of the candidate’s name on the online ballot after the election had begun.

“I have decided that the only appropriate action is to conduct a revote of the office of the vice presidency to run concurrently with the runoff on Monday,” Darling said in an e-mail to the freshman class on Friday afternoon.

Hezghia noted that by the time his photo and statement had been posted online, more than 200 votes had been submitted. “Since no more than 600 people voted in total, a huge percentage of the people who voted never saw my photo and statement,” he said in an e-mail to The Daily Princetonian.

Still, Hezghia added he was “a bit upset to hear that Addie had to step down from her position.”

“I understand that she made an honest mistake, and I feel like USG should have given her another chance,” he explained.

Joseph did not respond to requests for comment.

“[The mistakes were] completely inadvertent, but I take full responsibility all the same,” Darling said in a statement. “To prevent this procedural mishap from distracting from the improvements made in elections reform and software, Connor and I have concluded it would be best if I resign from my position.”

Darling will step down at the end of the current election cycle next week. Honor Committee chair Peter Dunbar ’10, Class of 2010 president Aditya Panda and Class of 2011 president Alex Rosen will serve as co-election managers until Feb. 1.

Meanwhile, the USG “needs some very serious conversations about whether the continued existence of the independent position of elections manager is viable,” Diemand-Yauman said in a statement.

Darling is the third USG senior elections manager to resign in a year. Last December, Braeden Kepner-Krauss ’10 resigned after the USG Senate voted to overturn his decision to hold a revote in last fall’s USG vice presidential race.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

In May, Sophie Jin ’11 resigned after the USG accidentally released incorrect results for a referendum that presented questions about student opinion on University administrators.

In last week’s invalidated vice presidential contest, Gabrielle Cole finished first with 112 votes, followed by Devon Chen with 90 votes. Stefan Kende garnered 88 votes, while Joseph came in fourth with 79 votes. Raymond Wu finished next with 75 votes, followed by Danielle Pingue with 72 votes and Hezghia with 28 votes.

Other results

Anthony Pappenfus and Zachary Beecher will face one another in a runoff on Monday for the position of Class of 2013 president after the two won 120 votes and 110 votes, respectively. Voting for the VP revote and other race runoffs begins at noon today.

In an e-mail, Pappenfus described some of his goals for the presidency. “Together, the great class of 2013 can and will combat injustice, raise money for babies, donate blood and create awareness of important issues concerning not only the students on campus, but the greater community.” He added, “Let’s party on a boat and have a great year ahead!”

Beecher said he was honored to make it to the next round of voting. “I was not sure what to expect with the elections — all of the other candidates ran very good and active campaigns,” Beecher said in an e-mail. “I am very lucky and fortunate to have made it to the next round.”

Beecher added that two of the presidential candidates eliminated after the first round of voting — Des Smith ’13 and Stephen Stolzenberg ’13 — are both endorsing his campaign.

Hanna Tian and Benjamin Chan will compete in a runoff for treasurer after winning 118 votes and 114 votes, respectively.

Tian said in an e-mail that she “was very excited about the election results because it means that I have come a step closer to work as a treasurer.”

Chan reflected on his campaign so far, saying in an e-mail, “I’m excited that I’m still in the race; I think it shows that talking to people personally is important, and that is what I plan to bring to the table if elected.”

Alice Su was unopposed in running for class secretary. Su said in an e-mail that, one of her first goals is to “get our council organized and streamlined … so that we can start planning and holding events for our class as quickly and smoothly as possible.”

Cameron Hough defeated Britt Sanders by a vote of 313 to 210 to become the Class of 2013 social chair. “I just want to hear what 2013 has in mind for this year so that we can have events that everyone enjoys,” Hough said in an e-mail. “After all, promoting cohesion is the most important part of the job.”