Mesa State College’s student government used online voting exclusively for the first time this spring, and their method of dealing with write-in candidates caused the student judiciary to throw out the election results in the race for student trustee.
The student government constitution at Mesa State provides one nomination process for standard candidates for office, and another, with a later deadline, for official write-in candidates. This year, one student ran for student trustee in the ordinary fashion, and two others ran as write-ins.
The voting software the student government used for the election had no provision for write-in candidates, however, so student election officials and advisors agreed to place the names of all three candidates on the ballot screen, with “(write-in)” following two of them.
Write-in candidate Susanna Morris won the election by a two-to-one margin, and incumbent Ashley Mates, the sole non-write-in on the ballot, brought suit in student court.
A new election will be held in the fall.
studentactivism.net 
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July 9, 2008 at 12:50 am
Ann
The election was filled with scandle. Mostly, the adminstration felt the need to entangle themselves in student politics. They openly decided to put Morris name on the ballot and they secretly appointed her as the interm trustee until the next election. Morris was found guilty of cheating during the election after forcing people to vote for her. Mates is a activist on campus and in the local community. She has always voiced student concerns even if they were not popluar with the adminstration of the college. She is also not a member of the Republican Party, unlike Morris whom share membership with President of the college.