At Last, Currier Chairs Elected

Chris S. Cullen ’07 and Techrosette Leng ’07 emerged as the winners in the hotly contested Currier House Committee (HoCo) co-chair election this Saturday.

The arduous race witnessed three rounds of voting—two resulting in ties, and one canceled because of security flaws with the online voting system. With Leng garnering a clear victory in each of the votes, Cullen and Geoffrey D. Kearney ’07 remained in a dead heat until this final election, when Cullen’s total finally exceeded Kearney’s by a significant margin.

“The results of this election were not as close as the previous elections,” said Samita A. Mannapperuma ‘06, who is outgoing HoCo vice-chair.

The HoCo declined to release the vote tallies for the final round of voting, which was administered by paper ballot on Friday and Saturday nights.

“Each candidate had a representative at the vote count,” said Jon C. Bardin ’06, outgoing chair. “We didn’t think it was necessary to release the vote count because there was enough oversight.”

To ensure an accurate count, tutor Bill Anderson read aloud each vote, while three seniors on the HoCo, each overseen by a representative of one of the candidates, tallied the results. All three seniors came up with the same tallies, and Bardin sent out an e-mail late Saturday night announcing the results.

“It was a long process, longer than we would have hoped,” said Bardin. “But I’m happy to have had a thorough and accurate election.”

Two hundred and ten out of 338 Currier residents voted in the last round of elections, almost two-thirds of the house. Candidates attributed the high voter turnout to a strong sense of community in the House.

In his candidacy statement, Cullen vowed to improve communication within the house by having a larger HoCo presence in the dining hall, while also increasing the amount of community activities. Cullen proposed name tag days for sophomores, which would allow incoming residents to get to know one another, as well as a house-wide game like Assassin.

He also said Currier would work with other Quad HoCos to bring more events to the Quad.

“This campaign will begin with a Spring Slip and Slide (covering half of the Quad’s area) and a BBQ, as both a Welcome to incoming sophomores to the Quad community and a time to bond with our wonderful neighbors,” he wrote in his candidacy statement.

Leng ran largely on her experience with and dedication to the HoCo and the relationships she has forged in the House.

She said she would bring “creativity, humor, spunk, a little bit of irreverence, persistence, and boundless energy” to the House.

In the initial vote, Leng finished with 99 votes, while Cullen and Kearney tied with 67 votes each. Cullen and Kearney tied again in a run-off election, 90-90.

The HoCo initiated an unprecedented second run-off election, but canceled it within hours after the committee realized that users could vote multiple times on the website the House was using, www.surveymonkey.com.

The candidates expressed relief and enthusiasm for the upcoming year.

“It was a lot longer process than anyone expected,” said Cullen. “The three of us are all very competent and involved in Currier and it would have worked out anyway the vote went.”

The election also prompted renewed calls for a college-wide HoCo voting system. “I think it’s very important that the HoCos get together, perhaps with the [Undergraduate Council], and come up with a unified system for secure elections,” said Bardin. “We should have a singular, secure system.”

—Staff writer Dan R. Rasmussen can be reached at drasmuss@fas.harvard.edu.