Several computer glitches and human errors disabled the Undergraduate Council voting system during last week's elections.

"I'm convinced that council voting is permanently cursed," quipped Paul A. Gusmarino '02, the council's technology coordinator.

Election Commission officers failed to include the name of one first-year council candidate on the ballot, bugs plagued the online voting program in Eliot House and the election was delayed by incomplete data on first-year voters.

The council is currently holding a re-election for the East Yard district that began yesterday at12:01 a.m. and will conclude tomorrow at midnight.

Only hours after the election began early Wednesday morning, Jonah G. Westerman '03, a first-year candidate in the East Yard, had notified the council that his name was not on the ballot.

Elections Commission chair Kyle D. Hawkins '02, who is also a Crimson editor, said that at that point the council had two options.

"We could have stopped the election and then have started it over again, or we could have waited until the election's completion and then rerun just the East Yard's vote," he said.

The council selected the latter option, as its members believed it would be the least disruptive course of action, according to Hawkins.

Other first-years running for election in the East Yard concurred.

"It was the only fair thing to do," said candidate Jared S. Morgenstern '03, a resident of Greenough Hall, "although I'm sure it's going to have a great effect on [voter turnout]."

Hawkins apologized for the oversight. "It's really not this candidate's fault. It's our fault and we're sorry."

The council pledged to help East Yard candidates publicize the new vote.

Yet Anna K. Engstrom '03, a candidate from Wigglesworth Hall, complained that all the old posters had already been taken down and that the council had not contacted her, or to her knowledge, any of the other candidates, with an offer of assistance.

Incomplete data on first-year voters forced the council to put the online voting program on hold for the first few hours of the election period.

From midnight to about 4 a.m., council members scrambled to enter first-year dormitory assignments into the listings provided by the registrar's office.