Members of the electoral commission went before the 34th Student Senate Monday to ask for the removal of Electoral Commissioner Tiffany Cartwright.
Precinct Supervisors Andrea Holmes and Courtney Laws used approximately 20 minutes of the community forum to express their discontent with the leadership of the electoral commission.
Together, Laws and Holmes read a prepared list of 12 alleged violations Cartwright committed during this year’s troubled fall election process, which they said caused the election complications.
“This is a paid position, and she is taking money when her duties are not being fulfilled,” Holmes said.
Cartwright said she did not know Holmes and Laws were going to speak in front of the senate and said she was very hurt they would try to have her impeached.
“I take it real personal because (Laws) should have come to me,” Cartwright said. “When I had a problem with the way she was doing her job, I told her. I didn’t go behind her back. This is a woman that is scorned because I recommended for her to be removed from office because she grossly neglected her duties. And on three different occasions, she was absent and left the office (under-staffed).”
In the list of violations,Cartwright did admit to not following proper procedure to allocate points to candidates.
“I was under the impression that the commission had already ruled on that. It was a lack of communication and I do admit fault.”
On the first violation listed, Laws and Holmes claim Cartwright changed the schedule without consenting with the commission.
Cartwright sent out an e-mail dated June 9 telling all of the commissioners that there would be changes in the schedule.
“The election schedule has been changed drastically. We all need to get on the ball now so we won’t have much work to do to make this election a success,” Cartwright said in the e-mail.
Holmes and Laws said four members on the electoral commission contributed to the list, but they would not name the people who worked on the list without their consent.
Out of the five possible people that could have made the list of violations, four of the people on the commission did not help type the list presented before the senate. The last person could not be reached for comment.
“We came before the senate so that they could act as an liaison between the electoral commission and the electoral commissioner,” Holmes said. “(Cartwright) is not very receptive to criticism and we don’t feel that she is capable to run the spring elections.”
Recently elected Freshman Class President Lamarious Myers and Vice President James Bland also came before the gallery to discuss how the freshmen elections were handled at the beginning of the month.
“(The election) was very stressful and eye opening,” Myers said.
According to Bland, when they found out that they were actually on the ballot, they asked someone in the electoral commission if the election would be valid and were told it would be.
Anthony and Zedrick Barber, freshmen president and vice president candidates, appealed to the Chief Justice, Jason Hurst, about Myers and Bland being on the ballot and the Student Supreme Court threw out the results.
The Student Body Constitution states that if an election has to be re-done, the write-in candidates would become part of the ballot. The day before elections, the Barber brothers sent another appeal to the senate regarding Myers and Bland being on the ballot. However, this time, Myers and Bland sent Hurst a request for an appeal.
In the appeal, they asked for their names not to be taken off the ballot a second time.
“It states that if a special election is to occur, write-in candidates” names will be placed on the ballot,” Myers and Bland said in request for an election appeal. “For us to go back and tell people we are write-in candidates once again makes us look questionable and causes us to lose creditability in the eye of the voters.”
The Judicial and Rules committee will be investigating all of the accusations.
Contact Tara West at tarae_west@yahoo.com.