IUSA denies fair election

Every year for the past five or six years, the IU Student Association election has been prolonged by frivolous party complaints and Supreme Court hearings, among other things.\nBefore this year's election, the executive candidates from the four tickets (College, Connect, Kirkwood and Vote for Pedro) vowed to each other that the losing parties would not file any complaints and whoever won the election would have won fair and square. They wanted a clean IUSA election that would respect the student body's choice. We commend all the executive candidates for this.\nBut as we know, this didn't happen. And for good reason.\nWith support of the College ticket and Connect presidential candidate John Palmer, Kirkwood filed a complaint with the IUSA Elections Commission asking for a runoff election. According to section 403 in the code, a ticket's executive candidates must receive at least 40 percent of the vote or at least 20 percent more than the second highest group. This year's election was close, and Vote for Pedro won by a margin of only 51 votes, which doesn't meet the 20 percent standard. \nKirkwood decided to file the complaint because it, along with every other ticket, was misinformed about the elections code during the campaign. Apparently, the IUSA Congress removed section 403 from the code a couple of years ago, but the section was never physically removed. So the Elections Commission claims the tickets were just handed "old" versions of the code while the executive candidates of Kirkwood believe section 403 is still valid because it is in every official code found on this campus.\nThe IDS editorial board would first like to express our extreme dissatisfaction with IUSA's failing to physically remove section 403. If it was voted on, it should have been enacted. Perhaps whoever's responsibility this was two years ago didn't realize the possible effect it could have. But this neglect is inexcusable. Your actions have caused yet another messy election and you've done the exact opposite of what you intended: a disservice to the student body. \nWhat's done is done. But now the IUSA Elections Commission and the Student Body Supreme Court have both denied to even hear Kirkwood's petition because the ticket filed its complaint after the deadline. We disagree with these denials.\nYes, the complaint was filed a few days late, but we believe it is now IUSA's job to clean up the mess it created, and there's no better chance than a commission or Supreme Court hearing. Simply removing the section now without public discussion isn't a viable remedy for this situation. Kirkwood, as well as the students, deserves a clarification. The ticket has a legitimate complaint and denying the complaint just because it was filed too late is avoiding the situation altogether.\nIt's a shame that the IUSA elections didn't run smoothly this year. It's even more of a shame that the fault lies with IUSA, not the candidates. \nWe feel a bit like Chicago Cubs fans: next year will be better.