A candidate for the Buchanan Hall presidential race has filed a complaint with the Department of Residence in hopes of nullifying the results of the election.

Randy Morfitt, senior in philosophy, is contesting the winning presidential election of Kathy Zaimes, sophomore in physics, to the presidency because of her campaigning tactics. Morfitt said clarification needs to be made about rules on campaigning in the residence halls.

Zaimes won the election with 73 votes, Patrice Bailey, graduate student in agricultural education and studies, had 43 votes, and Morfitt received nine.

“It’s my belief that the majority are happy with the results,” Zaimes said.

Morfitt said his biggest problem with Zaimes’ campaigning was she went door-to-door soliciting votes and placed flyers under residents’ doors.

“It gave one candidate an advantage in a super unfair election,” Morfitt said. “I have a problem with the whole way the election was handled.”

Morfitt is currently waiting for a decision from the Department of Residence. He said he hopes his complaint will prompt the department to make the election invalid and take action to ensure similar problems will not occur in the future.

“We may need to rewrite the [Buchanan] constitution to avoid these kinds of things,” Morfitt said. “This is a reoccurring problem because of a lack of oversight by the hall director’s office.”

Zaimes agreed there is a need for a change in the constitution. “I’ll change it — I’ll clarify it,” she said.

However, election organizers said no rules were broken and all candidates were made aware of the regulations, including the approval of the door-to-door campaigning.

“[Morfitt’s] always trying to get people’s attention just to piss people off. He does it all the time,” said Jeremy Cloutier, current Buchanan Hall president.

Cloutier, junior in mechanical engineering, conducted the election on April 10.

Morfitt’s complaint claims six irregularities occurred, and when they were brought to the attention of Buchanan Hall Director Balsy Kasi, “he refused to take any action concerning them,” Morfitt said.

Morfitt’s main complaint focused on Zaimes’ door-to-door campaigning. Morfitt said that on page 15 of the Terms and Conditions pamphlet for residence halls, it states “individuals or groups will not be permitted to campaign door to door.”

Zaimes said at an open meeting held for candidates and residents on April 6, Kasi explained the rules of the election.

“He said I had the freedom to [campaign door to door]. It was done for the benefit of Buchanan Hall, not for sales,” she said. “I think the residents liked the fact that I talked to them. I was the only one that talked to them and handed out flyers. I was surprised that someone had not done it before.”

Both Balsy and Cloutier said they support door-to-door campaigning.

“I feel that the president should be a social person that says hello to people. In fact, I think the residents appreciated it,” Cloutier said. “Since she lives here, we thought there was nothing to worry about.”

Morfitt has additional complaints about flyers, including what, where and how flyers can be posted, who can take them down and if they need the Buchanan stamp of approval.

Cloutier said he has recently reviewed the constitution and thinks the rules do need to be clarified.

“There need to be some rules about flyers and how to go about campaigning,” he said.

Morfitt also said the BHA constitution mandates that an election commission be set up, but this was never done. The election was monitored by the hall director and the outgoing president.

“We didn’t have an election commission because no one volunteered,” Kasi said. “But everything was clearly posted.”

Kasi said prior to the election, he and Cloutier believed a meeting was needed to review the rules. Cloutier said Morfitt declined to attend the meeting because Morfitt said he knew the constitution.

“For the future, we need an election commission to set rules stating exactly how it should be done,” Kasi said.

Additionally, Morfitt claimed rules regarding vote counting were not followed because the hall director did not post the vote totals. Kasi disagreed.

“The votes were counted out in the public,” Kasi said. “The election process was done fairly.”