Effective supervision on the part of the Undergraduate Council's Election Commission helped ensure that this year's race ran considerably smoother than in years past, candidates said.

The stepped-up oversight, candidates said, contrasted with the commission's poor record keeping last year, which led to controversy surrounding alleged election improprieties committed by council Vice President John A. Burton '01.

"Everything was done better," said presidential candidate Justin A. Barkley '02. "It was fair; it was good; it was far better than last year."

In nightly meetings this year, the commissioners--three students who are appointed from the council and three who are appointed from outside the council--met to discuss alleged violations and spending policies. Commission members policed campaign events that might draw violations, including a pizza party thrown Wednesday night by Stephen N. Smith '02 after complaints it might violate election rules.

"They did their job very well," Todd E. Plants '01 said. Plants was a presidential candidate last year and managed the successful campaign of Paul A. Gusmorino '02 this year.

"They were fair and responsive, perhaps even a little tougher than they needed to be," he said.

The only major incident of the campaign occurred last week when the Election Commission ordered candidate B.J. Averell '02 to shut down his campaign operation because of postering violations.

The commission first ordered Averell to cease spending money, and the next day ordered him to cease all campaigning because of additional violations.