Election error: candidates and voters received no invitation

The by-election for a seat on the University Council must be held again. Something went ‘terribly wrong’ with the invitations to the election, meaning that many staff members were not informed at all.

Usually, elections are held every two years for the twelve staff seats on the University Council, but the departure of council member Jaap Cornelese created a vacancy from 1 September for a staff member from the General Management Directorate, the University Library or Professional Services. The staff seats on the council are divided among the departments, and these three departments have two seats.

Human error

Unfortunately, a human error was made in organising the election. In the email inviting staff to stand as candidates, the Central Electoral Committee, part of the General Management Directorate itself, forgot to invite staff from the General Management Directorate and the University Library. The same group of staff members subsequently did not receive an invitation to vote either.

Of the Professional Services staff who were invited, two stood as candidates: Vincent Martina and Maaike van der Wal. It was only after the ballot boxes closed on 29 June that the Central Electoral Committee discovered the error. The candidates themselves only found out that something had gone ‘terribly wrong’ a week after the result should have been announced, Martina says. But this only happened after the candidates made their own enquiries.

Election must be held again

Without the participation of two of the three departments, the committee had no choice but to declare the result invalid. The result was ever shared. “The Central Electoral Committee regrets that this error was made”, chair Sebastian Sparidis said by email. “Especially in elections, it is important that staff can trust the process to be conducted carefully. That is why it was decided to organise the election again and introduce additional checks into the process.”

The election will be held again in October, Sparidis says. Candidates can put themselves forward between 14 and 28 September, after which the voting website will open between 5 and 12 October. The result will be announced on 13 October. Because of the postponement, one of the two seats for support staff will remain vacant until at least 1 November.

Understanding

Van der Wal is understanding about the error. Above all, she hopes people will be willing to vote again. “I appreciate that people took the trouble to do so. Of course, mistakes can happen and I don’t blame anyone for the way this turned out.” She will ‘certainly’ take part again. “Naturally, I hope that the people who previously placed their trust in me will do so again.”

Martina mainly feels sorry that things went wrong for employee participation in general. “Hopefully, it won’t discourage people from voting.” He also intends to stand as a candidate again.