On Wednesday, April 26, elections for the Inter Club Council executive officers took place at their weekly meeting. Up for election were the seats of ICC chairperson, ICC chair of programs, and ICC chair of finance.

The position of ICC chair was awarded to James Harris.

“I would like to help strategize and help [clubs] get a better idea of how to get more members and how to promote [themselves] … as well as keep the bond between ICC and the [Student] Senate so that we can work together,” said Harris.

Ryan Bellon, who ran unopposed, was voted in for chair of programs. “Clubs are the source of school pride and personal empowerment and whether they are thriving or failing is the best insight to the student body’s excitement or disenfranchisement to their school,” said Bellon.

However several breaches of ICC code transpired during the vote for chair of finance, which resulted in the need for a re-election this Wednesday, May 3. Each club has the opportunity to appoint one person to attend the meeting and cast their club’s vote.

The first violation occurred when Finance Chair nominee Mel Alegria, who is also the representative for the De Anza Service Society, was unaware of his ability to cast his vote. Therefore, due to a miscommunication about ICC code, the De Anza Service Society did not vote in the election for chair of finance.

The second violation of ICC code occurred when the vote for chair of finance resulted in a tie between Alegria and his opponent Claudia Andrade. According to ICC code, in the occurrence of a tie the current ICC Chairperson (Grace Bello) is authorized to be the tiebreaker.

Although Bello recommended following this procedure, she was advised that her vote would not be adequate to make a majority and a second vote would be necessary.

During the original voting process the nominees were all sent out of the room and brought in one at a time. Each nominee had the opportunity to present a brief speech.

Following the speeches, each club representative seated at the voting table was given the opportunity to submit questions to the candidates. Candidates running for the same position each answered the same set of three questions. An anonymous vote was taken on conclusion of the question and answer session.

Preceding the second vote for finance chair each nominee went through an additional question and answer session. Alegria and Andrade were brought in separately and asked spontaneous questions directly from the club representatives. This was the final informal violation of ICC code because nominees running for the same position are supposed to be asked identical questions.

Some students were calling for a re-vote even before it was known that ICC guidelines were broken. Luis Bocaletti;, representative for Students for Justice, said, “There’s three men on the board and there were two women; one for chair and one for finance, who were running. We feel, as Students for Justice, that we should have more diverse people in power or in decision-making positions because women experience different aspects of life than men do. They come from different backgrounds or different points of view.

“Men have always been given these positions and haven’t had any opponents to their power … we just want more diversity and more [input] in school boards.”