UPDATE, 9:55 p.m: Freshman and sophomore elections were invalidated by the Elections Subcommittee today due to a ballot error that allowed people to vote multiple times. New ballots were sent out for at least one grade this afternoon and a new count was scheduled for Wednesday morning, subcommittee members said.

Junior and senior ballots had the same problem, but since all positions were uncontested the committee decided not to hold revotes for them. 

Meanwhile, the Student Advocate, being chosen for the first time, was supposed to be decided by a school-wide vote including faculty, according to the text of the constitutional amendment that established the office last spring. 

But due to another error, only seniors heard from the candidate – senior Gaby Terech – and only they were given the voting option of voting for the new office. The Elections Subcommittee decided that the vote would not be re-administered since the race was uncontested.

Results of the repeat freshman and sophomore elections will be reported by Boiling Point representatives Wednesday morning and this story will be further updated at that time. 

Elections for Just Community grade-level representatives, including candidate speeches during Town Hall, were held this morning after being postponed due to the attacks in Israel.

Previously set for Oct. 10 – the day school returned from Sukkot break – Fairness Committee Co-Chair Malia Nagel announced their postponement in a Schoology post Oct. 9. A war-related special schedule took place on the earlier date instead.

“We hope you all are well and remain safe,” Malia wrote on the Just Community page. “As of now, rep elections are to be postponed to a later date. We will discuss this at a different time.”

Fairness Co-Chair Sami Brous Light said the current situation in Israel prompted the postponement. 

“In light of everything that is going on in Israel, we felt it would be best to postpone elections for at least one week out of respect,” Sami wrote in a text message to the Boiling Point. 

Though campaigning could have started Oct. 17, Boiling Point staff has not seen any campaigning occur around campus. A full list of the candidates is below. 

Today’s elections will choose grade-level representatives to the Fairness, Agenda and Student Activities committees. 

An additional race is also being held for a new Student Advocate position, which was passed by a two-thirds vote of Town Hall last April 19. 

The student advocate position was first proposed by the Fairness Committee to help students and others in presenting Fairness cases.  Originally described as a “student litigator,” the person would be available to any member of the Just Community who requested help when involved in a case before the Fairness Committee.  

“We believe that having the option of using a student litigator will make members of the Just Community feel more comfortable bringing cases to Fairness and vocalizing their views,” stated Fairness’s written reasoning presented at Town Hall. 

He or she could also serve as an attorney, and argue a case on behalf of someone who wanted to remain anonymous – though anonymity was contentious at the Town Hall election and several speakers, including Head of School Rabbi David Block, said they hoped the proposal would be amended to change that. No such proposal has been brought so far.

Only one person, required to be an upperclassman, can be elected for this position – and only one is running, senior Gabriel Terech. 

Committee officers were elected last May. The Student Advocate position is meant to be chosen by the entire school and not per grade, but is taking place this fall because it was approved too close to elections last year. 

The other committees each are to elect two representatives per grade to each committee. 

• The Student Activities Committee (SAC) runs spirit activities such as Color War and other events like ChanuCafe for Chanukah. 
• The Agenda Committee plans and runs Town Hall as well the proposal process.
• The Fairness Committee hears cases brought by members of the Just Community against one another when they believe someone has behaved unfairly.  Fairness also oversees Just Community elections and examines legislative petitions, which include challenges to passed or pending proposals. 

Four of today’s races are contested while nine are uncontested. 

All of the races in the 10th grade are contested. All of the races in the 11th and 12th grades are uncontested, including the Student Advocate race.  

STUDENT ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE (SAC):