“The dean is calling an immediate meeting of the elections committee in his office, and he will report back after they’ve discussed the matter, which should be in about thirty minutes.”
Su Ling took Nat’s hand. “Mr. Davies is a good and just man,” she said, “he’ll come to the right conclusion.”
“He may well come to the right conclusion,” said Nat, “but in the end he can only follow the election rules whatever his personal reservations.”
“I agree,” said a voice from behind them. Nat swung around to see Elliot grinning at him. “They won’t have to look in the rule book to discover that the person with the most votes is the winner,” Elliot added with disdain.
“Unless they come across something about one person, one vote,” said Nat.
“Are you accusing me of cheating?” Elliot snapped back, as a group of his supporters drifted over and stood behind him.
“Well, let’s put it this way. If you win this election, you can apply for a job in Chicago as a teller in Cook County, because Mayor Daly has nothing to teach you.”
Elliot took a step forward and raised his fist just as the dean reentered the room, a single sheet of paper in his hand. He made his way back up onto the stage.
“You just escaped a beating,” whispered Elliot.
“And I suspect you’re just about to get one,” replied Nat, as they both turned to face the stage.
The chattering in the hall died down as Mr. Davies adjusted the height of the microphone and faced those who had hung around to hear the result. He read slowly from a prepared script.
“In the election for president of the student senate, it has been brought to my attention that two ballot boxes were discovered some time after the count had been concluded. When they were opened, the outcome of those votes varied considerably from all the other boxes. Therefore as delegated officials, we were left with no choice but to refer to the rule book on elections. Search as we might, we were unable to find any mention of missing boxes, or what action to take should there be a disproportionate ratio of votes found in any one box.”
“Because no one has ever cheated in the past,” shouted Joe from the back of the hall.
“And no one did this time,” came back the immediate reply, “you’re just bad losers.”
“How many more boxes have you got hidden away just in case…?”
“We don’t need any more.”
“Quiet,” said the dean. “These outbursts do not reflect well on either side.” He waited for silence before he continued to read from his script. “We are, however, mindful of our responsibility as officers, and have come to the conclusion that the result of the election must stand.” Elliot’s supporters leaped in the air and cheered.
Elliot turned to Nat and said, “I think you’ll find it’s you who just got the beating.”
“It’s not over yet,” said Nat, his eyes still fixed on Mr. Davies.
It was some time before the dean could continue, as few present realized that he had not yet completed his statement.
“As there have been several irregularities in this election, one of which in our opinion remains unresolved, I have therefore decided that under rule 7B of the Student Senate Charter, the defeated candidate should be given the opportunity to appeal. Should he do so, the committee will be faced with three choices.” He opened the rule book and read: “a) to confirm the original result, b) to reverse the original result, or c) to call for a new election, which would be held during the first week of the following term. We therefore propose to give Mr. Cartwright twenty-four hours to appeal.”
“We won’t need twenty-four hours,” called out Joe. “We appeal.”
“I shall need that in writing from the candidate,” said the dean.
Tom glanced across at Nat, who was looking down at Su Ling.
“Do you remember what we agreed if I didn’t win?”
Book Three
Chronicles
23
Nat turned and watched Su Ling walk slowly toward him and recalled the day they had first met. He had chased her down a hill, and when she turned on that occasion, she’d taken his breath away.
“Do you have any idea how lucky you are?” whispered Tom.