He took a couple of paces backwards and collapsed into a chair on the other side of the corridor. Within minutes, he had fallen into a deep sleep.
Fletcher woke with a start when he felt a hand gently touch his shoulder. His tired eyes blinked open; he had no idea how long he’d been asleep. The first thing he saw was a nurse, her face solemn. Dr Redpath stood a pace behind her. He didn’t need to be told that Harry Robert Davenport was no longer alive.
‘So what’s the problem?’ asked Nat as they ran towards the Commons where the vote was being counted.
‘We were leading comfortably until a few minutes ago,’ said Joe, already out of breath from his trip there and back and unable to keep up with what Nat would have described as a jog. He slowed to a fast walk. ‘And then suddenly two new ballot boxes appeared, stuffed with votes — and nearly ninety per cent of them in favour of Elliot,’ he added as they reached the bottom step.
Nat and Tom didn’t wait for Joe as they bounded up the steps and through the swing doors. The first person they saw was Ralph Elliot — a smug look on his face. Nat turned his attention to Tom, who was already being briefed by Sue and Chris. He quickly joined them.
‘We were leading by just over four hundred votes,’ said Chris, ‘and we assumed it was all over, when two new boxes appeared out of nowhere.’
‘What do you mean, out of nowhere?’ asked Tom.
‘Well, they were discovered under a table, but hadn’t been included among those that were registered in the original count. In those two boxes,’ Chris checked his clipboard, ‘Elliot polled 319, to Nat’s 48, and 322 to Nat’s 41, which reversed the original outcome and put him in the lead by a handful of votes.’
‘Give me a few examples of figures from some of the other boxes,’ said Su Ling.
‘They were all fairly consistent,’ said Chris, returning to his list. ‘The most extreme was 209 for Nat, against 176 for Elliot. In fact, Elliot only polled higher in one box, 201 to 196.’
‘The votes in the last two boxes,’ said Su Ling, ‘are not statistically possible, when you compare them with the other ten that have already been counted. Someone must have literally stuffed those boxes with enough ballot papers to reverse the original decision.’
‘But how could they have managed that?’ asked Tom.
‘It would be easy enough if you could get your hands on any unused ballots,’ said Su Ling.
‘And that wouldn’t have been too difficult,’ said Joe.
‘How can you be so sure?’ asked Nat.
‘Because, when I voted in my dorm during the lunch hour, there was only one teller on duty, and she was writing an essay. I could have removed a handful of ballots without her even noticing.’
‘But that doesn’t explain the sudden appearance of two missing boxes,’ said Tom.
‘You don’t need a PhD to work out that one,’ chipped in Chris, ‘because once the poll has closed, all they had to do was hold back two of the boxes, and then stuff them with ballots.’
‘But we have no way of proving that,’ said Nat.
‘The statistics prove it,’ said Su Ling. ‘They never lie, though I admit we don’t have any first-hand proof.’
‘So what are we going to do about it?’ asked Joe, as he stared across at Elliot, the same self-satisfied look still in place.
‘There’s not much we can do except pass on our observations to Chester Davies. After all, he is the chief elections officer.’
‘OK, Joe, why don’t you do that, and we’ll wait to see what he has to say.’
Joe left them to make his submission to the dean of students. They watched as the expression on the elderly academic’s face became grimmer and grimmer. Once Joe had made his point, the dean immediately called for Elliot’s chief of staff, who did nothing more than shrug his shoulders and point out that every ballot was valid.
Nat watched apprehensively as Mr Davies questioned both men, and saw Joe nod his agreement, before they broke away to join their respective teams.
‘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 round 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 hiding,’ 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 leapt in the air and cheered.
Elliot turned to Nat and said, ‘I think you’ll find it’s you who just got the hiding.’
‘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.’