A number of ballots cast in the Student Government Association elections were deemed invalid by a Student Senate regulatory committee because they were sent in rapid succession from four common IP addresses.
Chief Student Affairs Officer Craig Hutchinson was wary of labeling the incident foul play, but he did say it was highly suspicious. “There was an anomolous situation that looks like it might have been caused by someone attempting to impact the voting improperly,” he said.
The violations and inquiry committee, which is assembled to investigate alleged violations of Student Senate rules and regulations, investigated the 95 ballots after suspicions were raised.
“While common IP addresses would not necessarily be an issue, the date and time stamp indicated that the votes were submitted in rapid succession at several different times,” O’Connor said.
But the suspicion didn’t stop there. According to O’Connor, the 95 ballots had also each been cast for the same student body president candidate.
O’Connor said the issue has been referred to USM police and the Office of Community Standards. According to Hutchinson, as in all cases brought before community standards the identity of the candidate connected to the invalid ballots could not be released.
Hutchinson declined to comment on whether the candidate was suspected of orchestrating submission of the ballots.
Hutchinson said the ballots were caught before the tallying of votes, and the final election results were not affected.