The recently elected Towers Residence Association senator for the Government of the Student Body may not serve in his position next year because his constituency is scheduled to be dismantled.

Jeremy Putman, junior in management, was elected at the beginning of March for the 2005-06 academic year. This is a problem, as Towers will be closing after this spring.

“He has to have a constituency, and he’ll only have one for this school year,” said Jeremy Schweitzer, vice-commissioner of the GSB Election Commission.

Schweitzer also said Putman shouldn’t have been on the ballot in the first place.

The basic purpose of a senator is to represent individuals in his or her voting population, he said, and once the constituency is removed — as it will be upon the closing of the two remaining buildings, Wallace and Wilson halls — the position would be removed, as well.

Although Putman would be forced to resign or impeached next fall, his position still holds purpose after he is seated.

“There’s been a lot of discussion about it in the fact that, for two weeks this spring, from April 11 until when school gets out, Towers will still need a senator,” said GSB Speaker of the Senate Henry Alliger. “We’ll need a senator for those few meetings.”

Since Towers will still hold voters after April 11, GSB is required to fill the position of TRA senator.

“Technically, we have to have representation for those meetings,” Schweitzer said. “We did tell him that if he wanted to he could still run to fill the seat for the remainder of this year.”

Putman said he was unaware of the amount of time he will be able to serve as a GSB senator.

“I haven’t heard anything from [GSB] or the elections commissioner,” he said.

The election commission looked over how GSB would be affected by Towers closing, and decided to remove the TRA senate seat. Putman was then informed of the situation, Schweitzer said.

“I noticed [Putman’s name] and I couldn’t understand how it was there,” said TRA President Michael Dale. “There’s no reason to have someone represent an association that won’t be there next year.”

An additional $75 “good faith” deposit was also due to ensure candidates would not break election rules, which Putman failed to pay on time. Not paying the deposit should have resulted in him being ineligible.

“Technically, he shouldn’t have been on the ballot,” Schweitzer said.

An early deadline set by Academic Information Technologies for the online ballot and a miscommunication between Schweitzer and Caleb Shinn, GSB election commissioner, resulted in Putman’s name remaining on the ballot, Schweitzer said.

Problems in communications have appeared in many facets of the election process.

The election commission is in meetings to discuss the future of Putman’s involvement in GSB, and a decision determining if the past election should be deemed invalid will be made, said Mara Spooner, GSB election commission member.