Rotman commerce students will have to re-elect student executives on Monday and Tuesday this week, after an investigation revealed that electoral fraud occurred during last week’s elections. Students were notified in a March 3 email from Cynthia Bishop, Rotman’s director of student life, career services, and alumni.

“At least five separate cases of suspected fraud have been identified resulting in potential tampering of approximately 100 overall votes for various elections occurring across all student groups,” Bishop wrote.

Votes will be recast for the following academic associations: Rotman Commerce Students’ Association, the Accounting Society, the Consulting Association, the Finance Association, and the Marketing Association. Additional security features have been implemented on Rotman’s portal provider to avoid fraud.

Suspicions of electoral fraud were in the air when election results were first being tabulated. The suspicion was confirmed when a student complained that a vote had already been cast on their behalf using their Portal account. Soon after, Rotman’s student life office began a fraud investigation that is still underway.

Rotman students vote online using the Rotman Web Portal, also known as R-World. Students use the portal for a number of purposes, from housing information to networking.

Students were hesitant to speak when The Varsity approached them for comment. “No one knows anything,” second-year student Shirley Nguyen. Overall, students were unwilling to label the election as fraudulent when investigation results have not been made public to them.

Executive members of each of the five student academic associations up for re-election declined to comment before the investigation is concluded. The winners of last week’s election have not been disclosed, and results have been voided. Over 750 votes were cast, making the voter turnout around 30 per cent.

In the email, Bishop said a handful of students are suspected to be involved. She says the portal is being used to identify the individuals.

Perpetrators of electoral fraud will be sanctioned according to Section 2 of the Code of Student Conduct policy, which prohibits students to vote on behalf of others. A violation of this policy could result in suspension or expulsion.

In addition to voting in student academic elections, Rotman commerce students will also vote for two non-academic groups, the Rotman Commerce Law Association and Rotman Commerce Students in Free Enterprise, on Thursday and Friday this week.