Allegations of harassment and electoral impropriety have cast a pall over the results of the Associated Students of Madison referenda that were voted upon Tuesday.
UW-Madison students have voiced concern about the campaigning tactics of some campus student organizations. Complaints were submitted over e-mail to ASM's Student Election Committee in response to Tuesday's ASM voting process.
UW-Madison freshman Peter, whose last name was withheld, said he was harassed when poll workers tried to influence his decision about the Wisconsin Union Facilities Improvement Plan, which failed to pass by almost 700 votes.
In particular, he said he was bothered by the behavior of UW-Madison junior and Student Labor Action Coalition member Ashok Kumar.
Peter said while he was voting, he noticed Kumar was present at the voting table and jumped in on the conversation\ he was having with a poll worker at Gordon Commons.
""He was also telling me ... that if I wanted a new Green Union South and a renovated Memorial Union I should donate money directly,"" Peter said.
However, Kumar said he was not at the polling places. ""The designated polling places are the libraries, and we did not go to the libraries,"" he said.
A member of the Wisconsin Union Directorate who supported WUFIP filed a complaint that also mentioned SLAC. In her complaint, she accused another SLAC member, Joel Feingold, of allegedly defacing sidewalk chalkings around campus.
Referring to chalkings that mention WUFIP, she said, ""Our ‘yes' has been crossed out, and ‘no' has been written."" Though she did not directly see him deface anything, she said she noticed Feingold in the vicinity and said his group has ""fought a very dirty campaign against WUFIP.""
Feingold, however, denied this allegation. ""All I can say is that I never saw anyone in SLAC change anyone's chalking,"" he said.
Despite the disagreements, the larger question is whether SEC will take action in response to the filed complaints and if it possibly could change the results of the referendum.
""We're investigating the validity of those allegations,"" said Tim Leonard, chair of SEC. ""I have no speculation on that right now. But we are in the investigation stage. We have five days to come up with the results and to take action.""
However, Feingold said he was skeptical that the decision would change. ""I don't know if they have much of a chance of reversing a 700 vote majority,"" he said.\
