Reports of voter fraud are once again circulating the Student Government Association elections.
Amber Khan, a biology sophomore, said when she logged on to vote Tuesday, the website said she had already voted.
“I hadn’t even been on the website. I didn’t even select a candidate; I was going to read about them, but then it said that I already cast a vote so I got concerned,” Khan said.
Simon Bott, her chemistry professor, said he encourages his class to vote, and she went to him asking for help.
“I asked her if she had given (her birth date or PeopleSoft number) out recently, and she said yes… there was a petition out there on Tuesday about the M.D. Anderson bathrooms and they had the PeopleSoft IDs and birthdays,” Bott said.
Khan said the petition was to replace faucets in the M.D. Anderson library.
“This was on Tuesday around 5 or 5:30 or something like that. I was coming back from class, and I ran into these two students,” she said. “They asked me about if I’ve been to M.D. Anderson library and used the bathrooms over there.”
She said the students — who claimed they were part of a student organization, but didn’t name which one — told her if they got 500 signatures on a petition, the University would change the faucets.
“There was a sign in sheet, and they were asking for PeopleSoft and date of birth, your name — first and last name — and I think they asked for your major or something like that,” Khan said. “When I went to the voting site, I put in my information and it said that I had already cast a vote.”
Arsalan Razakazi, chief elections commissioner for SGA, said as of Wednesday night, he had not heard any reports from students, but if any came up he would investigate it.
Anyone with information about this, or who has had trouble casting their votes, should contact Razakazi at [email protected]
probably someone already in SGA.
Personally i think the students participating in this should be expelled and prosecuted. This is a serious violation of University policy and it was premeditated.
Ah political drama, this is quite entertaining.
Students are also offering their sga salary as an incentive to voters. What have these elections come to…
McHugh is an idiot. He lost last year and he'll lose this year again.
McHugh is the scummiest dirtbag at uh.
McHugh is the only honest one out there i've seen; how much you wanna bet these filthy comments are being left by his political opponents because they're scared that hes going to beat them in the election?
you sir, have the definition of honest wrong.
Gogets was the only honest candidate last year. He lost because the lack of intelligence from the student body. Watch the 2011 debates and you'll understand.
McHugh is the epitome of what is wrong with politics. Idiots like that just make promises that don't mean anything.
Harding was the better choice against McHugh, but not by much.
agreed 100%
i was at that 'debate' and any sane person could see that gogets was the only viable option. harding forgot what they were talking about at least 5 times and mchugh said the same disingenuous talking points over and over. gogets talked about what works at other schools and seemed to actually try to answer questions rather than recite talking points or ask what the question was again.
it's hard enough watching a real politician at work, but watching a lil wannabe like McHugh is disgusting.
politics aren't for u mchugh – well …maybe you can be a weasel doing dirt in the shadows. like a karl rove.
So it's safe to say that Senator Gogets' love for raising student fees, drinking scotch and womanizing is causing him to divorce SGA? I would have liked to see a Gogets-Ramchandani ticket this year… I guess he'll go be an ass outside of SGA instead.
Pretty simple investigation: who does it say Ms. Khan voted for?
I don't see anything wrong with offering a salary toward a scholarship fund instead of stuffing it in one's pocket like the current sga does; isnt that a noble thing?
you don't understand the time and work that goes into SGA. Okay do it for free but don't say that other students are greedy for taking the money. Maybe not everyone is as rich as McHugh.
Plus, the salary the president makes is nothing compared to Presidents at other universities. UT's president makes a good amount + has to take a year off from school just to be the president.
Whoever did this has guts – it's a great example of social engineering.
Every student should know that a petition to clean bathrooms would NEVER require a PeopleSoft ID and a Birthdate. Your ID is the most important identifier about you – guard it well.
I had hear second-hand that at some of the speaking engagements of one particular candidate (a name was not mentioned) people were planted in the audience to throw softball questions. True this happens in real-world politics and is not illegal or unauthorized, but it's not what I want possible future politicians to be practicing. Is it time for a FactCheck.org for Universities?
I know these two… Laxmi Ramana and Brandon Balwant from NSM..They came to our CS lab to ask for these signatures…. If you want you can see CC footage of our lab.I think it is on Feb 26th around 1pm to 3pm.. Even I gave my info but I doubted it, so gave wrong information.
nice!
i can't believe people are doing this to get on the SGA at some crappy lil university.
i wouldn't put it past McHugh to do something like this. I only met him a couple of times, but i'm pretty sure he's a conniving little worm.
When I tried to join a student org he was in, everyone decided to have a meeting at someone's house instead and not inform the rest of us, and so then McHugh's buddy lied and said McHugh got pneumonia and they had to rush him to the hospital – which is kind of believable cuz he looks sickly, but it was like the middle of Spring and i find it hard to believe he caught pneumonia unless he has a poor immune system…..
how many times is Bott in the paper? he's a toady, wannabe-dean.
McHugh doesn't seem that bad. Bott on the other hand, definitely seems to want to be involved in the students' choices. But, he is a professor here, and that is this choice.
Any chance I can see that footage? I was running for senate seat as well and lost by only a few votes. If you can let me know where I should go to see it, or send it to me I would greatly appreciate it. I addressed commission but they failed to investigate the problem thoroughly. My email is [email protected]
Wow, and then there is this whole sexual element to the story, where McHugh’s says the only reason James Lee is saying he helped commit the fraud is because he hit on McHugh’s and McHugh’s said not to him… I for one doubt McHugh’s would turn it down… This story has it all, sex, drama, lies and video tape…