Alleged fraud plagues election

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]

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