EDITORIAL
Election board
needs law lesson
laist week's primary op tions wore sufficiently flawed
to raise serious questions us to how the elections board
operates and how ASUO elections are conducted in gen
eral.
Poor planning and a number of ov ersights by the ele< -
tioris board resulted in violations of the election rules and
( ost students at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology
their opportunity to vote
The board rnav have also violated the Oregon Public
Records law. election rules and the spirit of an Oregon
law pertaining to post-election procedures when it refused
to release tentative voting results to the liiiimiH Wednes
day night.
Election rules require that students at OIMB be given
the opportunity to vote, but ballots and voting informa
tion were not received until Tuesday night, not nearly
soon enough for students to make an informed decision.
A graduate student at OIMB said the hoard r ailed the
institute Thursday and said students could still vote, as
long as the ballots wore faxed to the board by 5 p m I low
over. theeler tion ended Wednesday The board s appar
ent willingness to ignore this minor fat t demonstrates .1
severe disregard lor the electoral process
Election rules require the board to gne students the
opportunity to vote in advance if they will not he able
to vote during the presr rdied times. Although no students
took advantage of this offer, it may bo !«*< a use they were
not aware of the oppor
tunny
They would have
been, howevor, il the
tioard had published tin*
provisions lor absentee
voting in the Htiumild, as
specifically required by
election rules. Although
lhe election board said
this was an oversight, it
mav have lieen suffit iont
to alter the results of the
election Hut we'll nev
er know
There lias also been
an uproar concerning
the fact that a represen
tative from the Leslie
Hopefully, the
election board will
learn from its
mistakes this year
and strive to ensure
future elections,
including this
week’s general
elections, are
conducted in a
more professional
manner.
Warren/Mark Johnson —
campaign was not present lor the recount Thursday. Elec
tion Iroard members said they left a message with a rep
resentative of the campaign, which is all they were
required to do.
Election rules do not require the presence ol campaign
observers, just that they be permitted to attend.
1'hore have also been persistent, albeit unsubstantiat
ed, rumors that graduate and law students were told by
poll workers that they could not vote for president or vice
president, and that international students were told they
could not vote because they wore not citizens.
Ail that is required of any student is a valid II) card.
Election board rnembors. equally aghast at these rumors,
hopefully will track down the sourt e of these runyjrs and
attempt to verify or dismiss them.
On Wednesday night, the board refused to give the
Emt'rald tentative results. In 1991. the Oregon Attorney
General ruled the ASIJO Executive Office is subject to the
Public Records Law. which slates. "Every person has a
right to inspect any public record of a public body in this
state, except as otherwise expressly provided by (Oregon
Revised Statutes) 192.501 to 192.505."
A public record includes "any writing containing infor
mation relating to the conduct of the public's business."
As soon as the ixiard had a written tally of votes, regard
less of whether it was complete or even accurate, that tal
ly became a public record.
Further. OR.S 254 525(b). concerning post-election pro
cedures, says, "If all votes cast at the polling place are tal
lied there, the election board shall post one copy of the
return sheet in a prominent location outside the polling
place.”
Although Oregon election law does not apply to stu
dent government elections, the spirit of the law should,
and it says results must be posted, it does not say they
must bo complete or accurate — merely posted.
Hopefully, the election board will team from its mis
takes this year and strive to ensure future elections, includ
ing this week's general elections, are conducted in a more
professional manner.
COMING SOON
BOSNIAN
ANNEX
LETTERS
God helps
lor more information in
understanding sexuality from a
Christian perspective, call or
write to the addresses listed
lielcm
l.o\ e in Ac lion. 11 to 4th
Street, San Rafael. (A. 94401
(415) 457 9489
Melanc in, P () Box 14039 or
at 11 .*> N 85th #101, Seattle.
WA 9811 I. (206) 78 i 3300
Mam of these counselors
have probably come from a
hat k ground of questioning their
own sexuality. and found truth
that has worked for them
Janeen Elmont
Eugene
Have faith
Over the past Inw weeks. I
havi* followed the dispute over
Bibln.il (ifi laratmns of nul'1
.uni wrong Most of the letters
and articles have focused on
homosexuality I believe these
arguments have entirely missed
the truth that |esus preached:
salvation is received through
faith in Jesus (dirts!
The Bible sn\s, "righteous
ness from God comes through
faith m Jesus Christ to all who
believe” (Romans .liill It also
says, "everything that does not
come from faith is sin” (Romans
14:23). Therefore, regardless of
one's sexual orientation, those
who are without faith in Jesus
Christ sin in everything they do.
Salvation t enuot be attained
li\ following the law of the Old
Testament because we cannot
possibly fulfill its requirements
(try it and see) Seeing this, Got!
has provided salvation for all
who put their faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ And evidence of
one's faith is a changed life, u
life in w ho h one more and
more behaves as [rsus did.
Jt'sus loves even body But it s
only to those who believe in
Him that he grants eternal life
and the escape from eternal
punishment. It's all in the Bible
See for yourselves
Father, I pray that You would
give power to the students on
this campus to understand how
wide and long and high and
deep is the love of Christ, and
give them the ability to offer that
love back to you. Amen.
Eric Eckhart
Physics
Measure 9
Ballot Measure l) asks if the
ASUO should issue a statement
declaring the (H A ' wrong,
abnormal, and perverse
l he reason I oppose the OCA
is pn* isely Ins aIISc its ineililhts
make that kind of hateful, gen
eralizing statement lor tin*
ASUO to do the same would
tiring us down to their level.
I think the OCA is a terrible
group and a threat to our free
dorn and wav of life I think lhe\
should he defeated, not imitat
ed Please join me in voting no
on Measure 0
Russell Gladhart
General Science
Bad Ed
1 recently stopped bv the
offii e of the Ort'gnn Commftitn
lor to complain about the Ida
taut misogyny of its repub
lished. satirical article
Ram ride " I explained to pub
lisher I-!d ('.arson that all satire
has .1 message, and that "Ram
ride'' implies that women do
not reall\ want protection from
rape; they want sex
Of c ourse (larson denied this,
hut c ould not come up with any
plausible alternative message.
Instead, he tic ted as if there was
no intended message at all, only
meaningless humor Since when
do words have no meaning'
I am arguing that by associat
ing "Saforide" with a "whore
house on wheels" (illy own
words), tin- writer of this article,
and by association tin- Com
mvnlntor staff, perpetuates the
cage-old stereotype that women
ask for rape At best, they are
complete)! insensitive to the
serious problem of campus vio
lence against women. At worst,
they are promoting it
It is irresponsible to encour
age this attitude on our campus,
no matter how thinly veiled, in
the name of "satire "
Karen Smyer
GTF
Romance Languages
Shelley said
It seems all we hear of lately
is the catastrophes going on in
this world Are there any good
people out there w illing to actu
ally make a change? People talk
of change, but when the heat is
turned on, they are turned off
I believe Pert y Shelley wrote
it Im'sI in Hellos in 1H22:
"Oh (ease! must hate and
death return? (lease! must men
kill and die? Cease! drain not its
dregs the urn of bitter prophet.v
The world is wears of the past
Oh. might it die or rest at last'"
To make i hango. we must for
give for the past, look ahead to
the future and get involved in
the present
Kristen Kessler
Psychology
IFC debate
I'he Hmorald has .1 rusponsi
bi I it v .i*. .1 media member !(j run
ohjei livi* artu les iim! opinionat
ed editorials about events that
dirt'< tty or indirectly affot I stu
dents !i should also run infor
ni.ition about the larger issues at
hand This, I should think,
includes the IFC candidate
debate of April 1T».
Ille debate, which was
between the nominees for next
year's vacant seats on the pow
erful Ini idental Fee Committee,
gave students a chance to see
who and what the candidates
stood for This is an important
media event. At least I think so
The h.uu'raid apparently does
not agree with me ft did not
send so much as one representa
tive from its humble media
establishment to cover the
debate
Win not'
Do tht> students who did not
attend deserve not to know what
happened' Does the Emerald
have the choice to choose whit h
event it would or would not like
to cover depending on the edi
tors' moods Is the 1KC- so far
removed front the student body
that the Emerald did not think
the debate concerned us? The
last I heard, the 1FC was respon
sible for the distribution of $4 t>
million of student fees for the
1992-93 fiscal year.
The irony is that the Emerald
ran a large ad paid for by the
ASUC) in the April 14 issue
encouraging students to attend.
Students attended The Emerald
did not. Maybe the ad should
have been directed to the staff of
the new spaper encouraging its
members to attend instead.
Micah Jung
Undeclared