Reading the VUWSA Constitution opens a new can of by-election worms. Fuck.
Salient’s never-ending battle to have in its posession the official VUWSA by-election results took an interesting turn late last Thursday night, as Returning Officer Mark Maguire failed once again to provide Salient with the requested copy of the full and final official election results.
It has come to Salient’s attention that the Returning Officer is constitutionally required to provide the publication’s editor with a copy of an official declaration of the election results “as soon as practicable”.
The VUWSA Constitution, available on the VUWSA website, states that the Returning Officer is required to “declare the result of the election by posting one copy of the declaration on the Association noticeboard.”
The Constitution provides a template for how the declaration of the results should be formatted.
The declaration of the election results should include the number of votes for each winning candidate, the number of no confidence votes, and the total number of votes cast for each position.
It also requires that this declaration of the election result is signed and dated by the Returning Officer and assistants.
Once the election result is declared in the manner stated in the Constitution the Returning Officer is constitutionally required to “deliver as soon as practicable a copy of the said declaration to… the [Salient] Editor.”
The declaration of the July by-election results posted on the VUWSA noticeboard [at the time of press] does not conform to the template provided in the Constitution.
Furthermore, this declaration of the by-election results has not been signed or dated by the Returning Officer.
Maguire provided Salient late last week with figures for the total number of votes cast, and the total number of no confidence votes cast.
However, Salient—and students—still does not have the number of no confidence votes cast in each of the positions where no confidence should not have been offered as an option for voters.
Several Salient staff members have approached Maguire over the last three weeks to request the final by-election results.
Multiple emails had been sent, multiple voicemail messages had been left, multiple handwritten notes had been written, and multiple exhausting trips down two flights of stairs were made by Salient staff to remind Maguire that he needed to provide Salient with the information requested.
The July by-election has been a continued source of controversy for VUWSA.
Act on Campus President Peter McCaffrey presented a petition to the Returning Officer challenging the validity of the by-election.
The petition called for an inquiry to take place over three points of contention regarding the conduct of the by-election. This included questions over the constitutionality of the electronic ballot papers, the use of two different ballot papers, and that there were inadequate security measures in place for paper voting.
Maguire said that a statement regarding the petition “should” be released this week.
Silly VUWSA. Silly, silly VUWSA. You are truly the clusterfuck king of NZ student politics. VSM would be a gift to your constituency, and I don’t say that lightly.
As a member of the organisation, can I no-confidence this Mark character?
Heard a rumour that ‘ol Jazzy Freemantle told a bunch of people at a clubs meeting (?) that she thought Salient was “shit” and doesn’t do anything for VUWSA. Should probably spend more time worrying about what’s happening in her own backyard.
Here’s me being silly and thinking Salient is meant to do things for Students!
This is just appalingly embarrassing. Who is this clown and why was he appointed?
The only one who should be clowning is Guy Williams. And even then, he’s more of a stand up, butt fuck it, he’s the only one of the muppets who is paid to be funny atleast.