Blair Arch at Princeton University. Photo: Ken Lund/Flickr.

Jewish student groups at Princeton University voiced concerns on Thursday about the handling of a campus-wide anti-Israel referendum, as debate swirled over how the final result would be certified.

The referendum, which was open to undergraduate voting from April 11-13, weighed a boycott of the Caterpillar Inc. construction company over its business with Israel, drawing inspiration from the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign.

Late Wednesday night, The Princeton Tory reported that only a plurality of students had voted to approve the referendum — with 44% in favor, 40% opposed and 16% abstaining — short of the majority support needed for adoption by the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Senate.

By Thursday, however, a report in The Daily Princetonian said preliminary election results in fact showed a win for the Caterpillar referendum, counting 52.2 percent in favor and 47.7 percent against, excluding abstentions.

The discrepancy centered on whether “abstain” votes, which made up 16% of the voting tally, would be counted — touching off a debate between advocates on both sides of the measure as well as student government officials.

In a formal objection to the vote’s handling sent Wednesday night to the USG, and seen by The Algemeiner, opponents of the referendum recalled that ahead of the vote, the USG Elections Manager affirmed to activists that “abstain” votes would indeed be counted.

That guidance, wrote referendum opposition leader Myles McKnight, was instrumental to the campaign strategy of the Tigers for Israel group and other opponents of the measure — who encouraged students on the fence to vote “abstain” instead of not casting a ballot.

Jared Stone, president of Tigers for Israel, said they had conducted their campaign “under false pretenses.”

“Especially given how sensitive a topic this is and how this legislation has a detrimental effect on the well being and health of Jewish students, the fact that there is an about face occurring after voting closes is really worrying and also incredibly suspicious,” he told The Algemeiner on Thursday. “We are doing whatever we can to try to fully investigate this and ensure that there was justice throughout the process.”

The USG, for its part, said that the earlier guidance on abstentions was a “miscommunication,” and that regardless, such votes would not be construed as in favor or against, citing an appendix to the constitution that excludes abstentions for purposes of reaching a “majority vote.”

“USG will work to resolve concerns raised by the official opposition leader in accordance with our guidance documents,” USG Elections Manager Brian Li told The Algemeiner on Thursday. “We cannot comment on election results which have yet to be certified.”

Li earlier told the Daily Princetonian that official results would not be released before Friday afternoon, and perhaps later if there were complaints about the results.

Stone argued to The Algemeiner that the appendix in question did not apply to the relevant language used for referenda (a “majority of votes cast”), and said that the “incorrect information” given to campaigners by USG representatives was troubling. “It’s something that we’re really looking into and trying to combat because it is purely unfair and unethical,” he said.

Asked for comment about the vote, a Princeton University spokesperson told The Algemeiner that “student elections are overseen by the Undergraduate Student Government in accordance with its constitution.”

National Jewish groups on Thursday earlier reacted to reports that the BDS-inspired referendum had failed, with the Israel on Campus Coalition calling that result “encouraging.”

“Despite the misinformation and dangerous rhetoric employed by anti-Israel activists during this campaign, 56% of students chose not to support an antisemitic BDS referendum,” ICC CEO Jacob Baime said in a statement.

Tigers United, another Princeton student group that campaigned against the referendum, said Wednesday, “Thank you to everyone who voted no on referendum 3. We know this referendum is bad for Palestinians, Israelis, Princeton, and the peace process. No matter the outcome of the vote, we are proud of our community and the impact we have made on this campus while standing up for our beliefs.”