Tufts Elections Commission (ECOM) and the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Judiciary last week finalized the procedure to fill the only open community representative seat, which is reserved for the Africana community.
The procedural ruling, drafted by ECOM, was approved by the Judiciary on Sept. 28, according to Judiciary Chair Greg Bodwin, a junior. ECOM finalized the wording of the procedure last week, according to ECOM Chair Mike Borys, a junior.
The new procedure will allow interested individuals to submit applications for the Africana community rep seat on a rolling basis throughout the academic year. ECOM plans to make a public announcement as soon as the first application is received, after which any challengers will have five academic days to submit an application.
The procedure states that if no opposition steps forward, the leadership of the Africana Center may allow the single applicant to walk on, or they can reject the single applicant, which will leave the seat vacant and restart the process.
If two applications are received, both applicants will become candidates in a competitive election, pending the submission of a 50−signature petition by both applicants.
If three or more applications are submitted, the Africana Center staff and student leadership may review the applications and must approve a minimum of two applicants. Those two candidates will run against one another in an all−school competitive election.
"We felt that continually running special elections would not be the most time− or money−effective … use of TCU's resources," ECOM Public Relations Chair Joel Kruger, a sophomore, said. "Putting [the election] on a rolling basis … promotes the seat as well as promoting competition for that seat."
