Rawlins Wins Council Presidency Easily

In an overwhelming victory, Lamelle D. Rawlins '99 yesterday became the second popularly elected and first ever female president of the Undergraduate Council.

Mark A. Price '98 won the vice presidential race in a victory split between two rival candidate tickets.

"I'm thrilled to be given the chance by the student body to serve as president," said Rawlins, interviewed at her victory party last night.

Turnout for the election was 43 percent of the student body, down slightly from last year's 46 percent, but much higher than the 25 percent who voted in this fall's election of council representatives. The total number of votes was 2,769.

In the single transferable voting system, all candidates are ranked and the last-place finisher is eliminated. That person's votes are redistributed to whoever was second on those ballots. The process continues until there is one winner.

Rawlins garnered 765 votes in the first round, with Eric M. Nelson '99 and Elizabeth A. Haynes '98 trailing with 397 and 343 votes, respectively. After Nelson was eliminated in the final round, Rawlins received 1,446 total votes.

Nelson said he was satisfied with his performance in the race and was looking forward to getting back to his work as Student Affairs Committee chair on the council.

"I'd like to congratulate and give my full support to Lamelle," Nelson said. "I look forward to working with her on behalf of students."

Haynes had no comment last night.

Rawlins, the current vice president, was considered the frontrunner throughout the race. A Crimson poll taken last week gave her a slight lead over the other 11 candidates.

Rawlins won the campus-wide vice presidential race last April on a ticket with current president Robert M. Hyman '98, beating runner up Haynes. This time, her vice presidential running mate, Michael A. O'Mary '99, placed third.

The vice presidential race centered on the two top candidates, with Joseph A. Sena '99 trailing Price by only 37 first-round votes.

Price ran on a ticket with third-place presidential candidate Haynes.

"I'm very happy that I won, but my heart goes out to my running mate [Haynes] because we entered as a team and I feel disappointed for her," Price said.

The 11 other presidential candidates followed Rawlins in this order: Nelson, Haynes, Benjamin R. Kaplan '99, Philip R. Kaufman '98, Justin E. Porter '99, Albert S. Lee'98, Adam D. "Waka" Green '99, Eli W. Bolotin '98, Joseph G. Cleeman '98, David Goodman '97-'98 and William P. Pyonteck, Jr. '00.

Sena, O'Mary, Selamawi H. Asgedom '99 and Ethan G. Russell '98 followed Price in the vice presidential race.

This year's election was not troubled by the computer difficulties that caused a 16-hour delay in the results in the spring.

"The Election Commission had the tally one hour after the voting period ended," said Yoni E. Braude '99, press and publicity liaison for the commission.

"The program worked wonderfully, like butter," he said.

Winning without their running mates, both Rawlins and Price said they were looking forward to working together next semester.

"I'm thrilled about the chance to work with Mark. Mark and I are friends," Rawlins said.

Price agreed, saying, "I think one of my greatest assets is that I have a great ability to work with everyone. [The candidates have] all been very cordial to each other."

Several council members were also hopeful about the pairing of the two different executives.

"Hopefully, the election of Rawlins and Price without their running mates will discourage this ticket business in the future," said council parliamentarian Justin E. Jones '98.

"I think they will work a lot better now that they've come from two different sources," he said.

Council member Sarah K. Hurwitz '99 said she hoped the two leaders will complement each other in their views and leadership styles.

"I don't necessarily think they'll be pushing conflicting agendas. I think they'll learn to work together," she said.

Referendum Goof

Students logging into their e-mail accounts to vote on the Undergraduate Council budget referenda yesterday found the position paper arguing against the issue missing, a mistake that some council members said will skew the results.

"The referendum is completely invalid [if the other position paper is not inserted]. I would feel the same way if only the con side was up," said Sam Spital '00.

The missing paper was inserted into the program early this morning and other council members said the glitch will not significantly skew the results because very few people usually vote on the first day.

The referenda--which would increase funding to student groups and house committees--have been overshadowed by the council elections, leaving no one in charge of administering the referenda, said Marco B. Simons '97 of the Election Commission. The commission has no jurisdiction over the referenda.

Robert M. Klein '99 of the Harvard Computer Society said he did not receive the initial e-mail containing the position paper from Tally Zingher '99, and the referendum began yesterday at 5 p.m. without it.

The vice president of the council is charged with administering referenda, but Rawlins as an election candidate did not have access to the computer.

The voting will run until Saturday at 5 p.m. The referenda need to achieve a 25 percent turnout for the issues to be binding on the council.

--Abby Y. Fung contributed to the reporting of this story.

Vice-Presidental ResultsLiss R. MahleCrimsonV. Pres.  1  2  3  4  5M. Price  617  642  792  932  1253J. Sena  580  569  682  801M. O'Mary  550  590  660M. Asgedom  530  556E. Russell  153Total  2430  2357  2134  1733  1253

The vice presidential race centered on the two top candidates, with Joseph A. Sena '99 trailing Price by only 37 first-round votes.

Price ran on a ticket with third-place presidential candidate Haynes.

"I'm very happy that I won, but my heart goes out to my running mate [Haynes] because we entered as a team and I feel disappointed for her," Price said.

The 11 other presidential candidates followed Rawlins in this order: Nelson, Haynes, Benjamin R. Kaplan '99, Philip R. Kaufman '98, Justin E. Porter '99, Albert S. Lee'98, Adam D. "Waka" Green '99, Eli W. Bolotin '98, Joseph G. Cleeman '98, David Goodman '97-'98 and William P. Pyonteck, Jr. '00.

Sena, O'Mary, Selamawi H. Asgedom '99 and Ethan G. Russell '98 followed Price in the vice presidential race.

This year's election was not troubled by the computer difficulties that caused a 16-hour delay in the results in the spring.

"The Election Commission had the tally one hour after the voting period ended," said Yoni E. Braude '99, press and publicity liaison for the commission.

"The program worked wonderfully, like butter," he said.

Winning without their running mates, both Rawlins and Price said they were looking forward to working together next semester.

"I'm thrilled about the chance to work with Mark. Mark and I are friends," Rawlins said.

Price agreed, saying, "I think one of my greatest assets is that I have a great ability to work with everyone. [The candidates have] all been very cordial to each other."

Several council members were also hopeful about the pairing of the two different executives.

"Hopefully, the election of Rawlins and Price without their running mates will discourage this ticket business in the future," said council parliamentarian Justin E. Jones '98.

"I think they will work a lot better now that they've come from two different sources," he said.

Council member Sarah K. Hurwitz '99 said she hoped the two leaders will complement each other in their views and leadership styles.

"I don't necessarily think they'll be pushing conflicting agendas. I think they'll learn to work together," she said.

Referendum Goof

Students logging into their e-mail accounts to vote on the Undergraduate Council budget referenda yesterday found the position paper arguing against the issue missing, a mistake that some council members said will skew the results.

"The referendum is completely invalid [if the other position paper is not inserted]. I would feel the same way if only the con side was up," said Sam Spital '00.

The missing paper was inserted into the program early this morning and other council members said the glitch will not significantly skew the results because very few people usually vote on the first day.

The referenda--which would increase funding to student groups and house committees--have been overshadowed by the council elections, leaving no one in charge of administering the referenda, said Marco B. Simons '97 of the Election Commission. The commission has no jurisdiction over the referenda.

Robert M. Klein '99 of the Harvard Computer Society said he did not receive the initial e-mail containing the position paper from Tally Zingher '99, and the referendum began yesterday at 5 p.m. without it.

The vice president of the council is charged with administering referenda, but Rawlins as an election candidate did not have access to the computer.

The voting will run until Saturday at 5 p.m. The referenda need to achieve a 25 percent turnout for the issues to be binding on the council.

--Abby Y. Fung contributed to the reporting of this story.

Vice-Presidental ResultsLiss R. MahleCrimsonV. Pres.  1  2  3  4  5M. Price  617  642  792  932  1253J. Sena  580  569  682  801M. O'Mary  550  590  660M. Asgedom  530  556E. Russell  153Total  2430  2357  2134  1733  1253