UPDATE MAY 23, 2015:
The results of the L.A. Community College District Student Trustee election are being contested by Pierce College student Milo Anderson, who lost the election by three votes.
The final tally declared Ryan Navarrete from Los Angeles Trade-Technical College the winner by a margin of 0.07 percent, with a total of 4,143 ballots submitted by students districtwide. Anderson contends that a recount is called for based on the closeness of the race, and he said ballot booth hours made voting impossible for students attending night classes.
In the interest of transparency, it should be noted that Anderson, while not involved in the Roundup newspaper, is a member of the Pierce College Media Arts Department, which oversees KPCRadio, the Roundup and The Bull Magazine.
In an official letter of complaint to Vice Chancellor Bobbi Kimble and to the Districtwide Elections Committee, Anderson said “irregularities” may have occurred during election procedures.
Anderson received a letter from L.A. City College Vice President of Finance Gilbert Aguilar, Jr., in which Aguilar stated that Navarrete advised him to encourage students who were enrolled and attending multiple LACCD campuses to vote for Navarrete at each campus.
“I don’t know for sure if he did that,” Associated Student Organization President James Johnston said. “But I would assume that he would.”
Navarrete did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
There is nothing listed in the LACCD Board Rules that specifically forbids students from voting at multiple campuses. According to Section 21005.10 of the board rules, students currently enrolled at each campus are eligible to vote. For a student’s vote to be valid, they must have had their current enrollment verified in the master enrollment list, signed the master enrollment list, and provided photo identification at the time of voting.
“If they voted more than once, that’s a system flaw that we need to figure out,” Kimble said. “The internal audit division is investigating whether students voted at multiple campuses.”
“Election rules and election processes were set up quite some years ago,” Kimble said. “They have not been updated for probably 10 years. There was not the prevalence of students going to multiple campuses.”
According to Anderson, another irregularity that may have “significantly violated the democratic process of the election” was that the ballot booth was open for less than eight hours each day. Section 21005.11 Election Procedures states that the polls should be open eight hours for the two days of voting to allow day and evening students equal opportunity to vote.
Kimble said there is a separate investigation that has to be conducted by Pierce to find out whether voting booth hours were open long enough each day.
Anderson formally requested an investigation to examine the master lists from each of the nine colleges in the district to determine whether any students voted more than once. He also requested, as a part of the investigation, that Navarrete, Aguilar and any other witness be questioned to verify if students were encouraged to vote multiple times.
“I have been in community college for a few years and with the senate, and I know they are not going to overturn the election results,” said Johnston. “I know that both candidates are qualified and are very passionate about what they want.”
INITIAL STORY MAY 13, 2015:
The results of the L.A. Community College District Student Trustee election are being contested by Pierce College student Milo Anderson, who lost the election by three votes.
The final tally declared Ryan Navarrete from Los Angeles Trade-Technical College the winner by a margin of 0.07 percent, with a total of 4,143 ballots submitted by students districtwide. Anderson contends that a recount is called for based on the closeness of the race, and ballot booth hours he said made voting impossible for students attending night classes.
In an official letter of complaint to Vice Chancellor Bobbi Kimble and to the Districtwide Elections Committee, Anderson said “irregularities” may have occurred during election procedures.
Anderson received a letter from L.A. City College Vice President of Finance Gilbert Aguilar, Jr., in which Aguilar states that Navarrete advised him to encourage students who were enrolled and attending multiple LACCD campuses to vote for Navarrete at each campus.
There is nothing listed in the LACCD Board Rules that specifically forbids students from voting at multiple campuses. According to Section 21005.10 of the board rules, students currently enrolled at each campus are eligible to vote. For a student’s vote to be valid, they must have had their current enrollment verified in the master enrollment list, signed the master enrollment list, and have provided photo identification at the time of voting.
According to Anderson, another irregularity that may have “significantly violated the democratic process of the election” was that the ballot booth was open for less than eight hours each day. Section 21005.11 Election Procedures states that the polls should be open eight hours for the two days of voting to allow day and evening students equal opportunity to vote.
Anderson has formally requested an investigation to examine the master lists from each of the nine colleges in the district to determine whether any students voted more than once. He also requests, as a part of the investigation, that Navarrete, Aguilar and any other witness be questioned to verify if students were encouraged to vote multiple times.
In the interest of transparency it should be noted that Milo Anderson, while not involved in the Roundup newspaper, is a member of the Pierce College Media Arts Department, which oversees KPCRadio, The Roundup and The Bull Magazine.
