Letter to the Editor: Election

To the Quest’s Editors and the Student Body,

There have been some concerns brought up about the exclusion of a candidate from the ballot of the special Senate election currently taking place. This letter is aimed at providing some context for a more transparent view behind the decision process.

My name is Sofie Braunstein, and I am a Parliamentarian of the Student Body Senate. On Saturday afternoon, I was contacted by the Election Liaisons about a question that the Election Czars had. The question was whether a candidate should be able to be on the ballot if they submitted their petition 30 minutes past the deadline. I did not know the identity of the candidate. My decision, based on the Election Bylaws and Senate Bylaws, was to deny the petition on the following grounds: the submission timeline for candidacy was over seven days long, being sent out Thursday evening the week before and lasting until Friday at 11:59pm. If the candidate provided an explanation of extenuating circumstances then their petition could be accepted. So, the decision that I made, as someone with expertise on Senate procedures and Bylaws, was to not accept the petition. 

This decision reflects me, not the Election Czars. They consulted the Election Liaisons, who contacted me. If you have any questions about the contents of this letter, please reach out to me at sofiebraunstein@reed.edu and I will answer your questions to the best of my ability.