School Election Results Being Questioned

School Election Results Being Questioned (5/14/03 - Mentor, Ohio) — The election of the first black senior class president at Ohio's largest public high school has been put on hold until alleged voting irregularities are reviewed. Ollie Thomas Jr., 17, who was declared the winner of last week's election involving current juniors, said bigotry was behind the dispute. "I wanted to make history and I did," he said. The 10,000-student Mentor district in suburban Cleveland is about 1 percent black, according to a 1999-2000 state report. School officials said several students claimed the next day that the election was rigged and passed out petitions asking for a new election.

Superintendent Jackie Hoynes said school officials discovered 30 more ballots were cast than the number of student names marked as having voted. She said Thomas had won by a handful of votes, but wouldn't say if the margin was greater than 30. Hoynes said Tuesday that any further action must await her review of the matter. Ollie said a new election would leave him out of office. "I won't win because more people will come out to vote against me because of the rumors that the election was rigged in my favor and because they don't want a black student as class president," he said.

FLORIDA REDUX???? THIS IS WHAT THE KIDS LEARNED?? THIS, FROM ANOTHER PAPER!

High School Election Gets NAACP Attention
African-American Elected Senior Class President Makes History, Deals With Controversy

POSTED: 9:29 p.m. EDT May 13, 2003
UPDATED: 9:31 p.m. EDT May 13, 2003

CLEVELAND -- Mentor High School's election of a senior class president is in limbo -- some saying it is a textbook case of race discrimination.

Ollie Thomas Jr. is the kind of kid that would make any parent proud -- honor roll student, track star, and active church member.

And now, Thomas has made history at Mentor High School by becoming the first African-American to be elected as the school's senior class president.

"I was happy, running around the school," Thomas said.

But Thomas soon learned his joy would be short-lived.

The day following the election announcement, Thomas says he was shocked to hear what people were saying.

"People were talking about how I had rigged the votes, people didn't count all the votes, some of the votes didn't count so I could win," Thomas said.

Thomas denies all these accusations, and his father sees this election as clear as black and white.

"We went from the 21st century to the 19th century all over again," Thomas' father said. "They thought it was cute that he ran, but had no idea he could win."

The school's principal says it is not about the color of skin, but the number of extra ballots in the box -- in this case, more ballots than voters.

Mentor High School Principal John Schweitzer says they are in the middle of trying to figure out what happened and what to do next.

In the meantime, the NAACP is getting involved. The organization has sent a letter to the superintendent saying they are concerned and asking the district to weigh out any decisions very carefully.

Schweitzer hopes to get to the bottom of what happened very soon -- perhaps by the end of the week.

When I was in high school, many of us believed some of the election outcomes were rigged by the teacher advisors. We didn't care much, and figured we were just getting screwed like we always thought. There was one instance in which no one believed the count, but no one demanded an investigation.

I feel bad for all candidates involved with this one. If the black kid truly won, it won't matter. His victory will be tarnished forever, and that's a damned shame.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.