By Elianna Novitch 

[email protected] initial LGBTQIA+ constituency-senator-election outcome is now null because it did not fulfill the Queer Roundtable’s rule of conducting a run-off election between the top two vote-receiving candidates.

Because of the mishandling of results, the Queer community said another vote was needed. The newly elected LGBTQIA+ constituency senator is Tristan Schmidt.

“[I want to] let the [community] know that I’m not advocating for them, I’m advocating with them,” Schmidt said. “I stand with them unanimously.”

The new vote took place on Thursday in 166 IMU.

“The first election was very close in margins between the top two candidates,” Student Elections Commissioner Alisha McTaggart said in an email statement to The Daily Iowan. “I did not hold a run-off election as the Queer Roundtable had indicated, and I accidentally picked the popular vote winner as the overall winner. This wasn’t a part of the process the Queer Roundtable envisioned, and we want to ensure that the LGBTQIA+ community gets the fair election it deserves.”

Constituency senators act as liaisons between the University of Iowa Student Government and the communities they represent.

“We followed the same procedure with other communities, but I think that the Queer community brought up a good point,” UISG Diversity Inclusion Director Brian Leal said. “They said they had an array of concerns, but I think their biggest concern was that the individual elected did not have a majority vote. Though he had the most votes, he did not have a majority of all of the votes.”

Leal was glad to see the LGBTQIA+ community engaging in the election.

“I’m happy that the community really took initiative with this seat and said that ‘We believe that the election wasn’t held exactly how we agreed upon,’ ” Leal said. “They actually shared a document with us stating how they would like to see [their election run]. They being the Queer Roundtable, which are leaders from within the Queer community, that drafted something and unanimously voted for it.”

McTaggart said constituency senators are a helpful resource for communities such as LGBTQIA+. They can propose legislation for the community, analyze problems that are affecting members of the community, and address other issues.

“Student government was intentional in creating these positions because they do realize that there are identities that are marginalized and underrepresented, and while we understand that a representative does not represent an entire community, we do realize that there is power [in representation],” Leal said.

He said that the new vote is a good example of what UISG wants to see in its elections.

“That’s exactly what we want in these positions,” Leal said. “To have a community united [and] a community very involved in the decision-making process.”