Council Members See Violations in NSA Vote

Two Student Council members this weekend charged ballot-box stuffing and electioneering at the polls in the recent NSA referendum.

Richard E. Barringer '59, chairman of the Dudley House Committee, said he caught a student stuffing the Dudley ballot box during the unexplained absence of the Elections Chairman. The Dudley vote was reportedly 121 to 14, more than an 8:1 ratio against rejoining the NSA.

On Thursday night, after the referendum, the Dudley House Commitee declared the vote invalid.

However, Marc E. Leland '59, President of the Student Council, said yesterday that "the Dudley invalidation will not change the outcome of the vote."

"Harvard is still out of the NSA," he added.

The Winthrop ballot box was also stuffed, according to Lawrence B. Ekpebu '60, member of the Student Council. But this was discovered at noon, and a re-vote was taken in the evening.

"Propaganda Sheets"

A third infraction was charged at Eliot House. "Unsigned propaganda sheets strongly attacking the NSA were available on the voting desk, strategically placed between the ballots and the ballot box," charged Anthony M. J. Lanyi '61, a member of Eliot House.

"This is as bad as hanging an election poster in a voting booth," he said.

Emile C. Chi '60 charged that a similar situation existed at Kirkland House. "I asked that the campaign material be removed from the voting table," said Chi, "but it was not."

According to Ekpebu, anti-NSA sheets were also distributed during the voting in the Union.

Leland sad that he and another Council member had written the anti-NSA sheet. Asked why it was not signed, as required by a College rule, Leland said that the secretary had made the omission. "It was purely a clerical error," he stated.

Charge Campaign at Polls

Ekpebu also charged that Leland personally supervised the vote in the Union, and "actively electioneered against the NSA."

Leland replied, "I had more important things to do than sit behind a ballot box. It's just that no one else was available to do it. I asked Larry Ekpebu to help, and he refused."

Ekpebu acknowledged this, but added, "Like Marc, I have strong feelings about the NSA, and I didn't think it would be proper for me to help supervise the vote."

As a result of these and other charges, three Student Council members--Barringer, Ekpebu, and Chitranjan Kapur 60--signed a resolution last night demanding that the NSA referendum be considered null and void, and that another referendum be held within two weeks.

The referendum was called last Wednesday to determine student opinion on the Council's withdrawal from the National Student Association.