Ousted former John Muir College Junior Senator Aida Kuzucan failed to garner enough votes in a special election last week to reverse her impeachment because the election fell short of minimum voter turnout requirements.
Kuzucan, impeached under controversial circumstances in November 2006 due to poor attendance, collected petition signatures to call a special election seeking reinstatement. Kuzucan contended that she was unfairly impeached because her absences were for a religious holiday and a family emergency.
The election, held from Jan. 22 through Jan. 26, failed to secure a two-thirds majority, with only 51 percent of the votes in her favor.
The Muir College Council constitution dictates that anyone wishing to overturn an impeachment decision must submit a petition containing the signatures of at least 5 percent of the Muir electorate.
“”[Kuzucan] obtained 218 signatures (including her own),”” MCC Vice Chair Dave Payne stated in an e-mail.
Ballots were sent out to all Muir students via e-mail and, in order to vote, students needed to copy and paste the Web site address into their Internet browser. The technicalities caused some confusion on the first day of voting because the Web site was not immediately activated.
The election results, however, were nonbinding on two accounts: The MCC bylaws state that in order for a recall to be confirmed, there must be a two-thirds majority and at least 15 percent voter turnout. According to Muir Dean of Student Affairs Patty Mahaffey, only 385 votes were cast in the election, amounting to about 11 percent of Muir students.
“”I got more votes to be reinstated than I did to get elected originally,”” said Kuzucan, explaining that only about 5 percent of Muir students voted for the junior senator position in the original election last year. “”I still didn’t get my job back.””
Kuzucan, who continued to attend A.S. Council meetings after being ousted, said she is unsure if she will seek further appeal.
According to MCC Commissioner of Public Relations Betty Kuo, applications for the junior senator position were made available Jan. 29 and are due back Feb. 5.
