Gomez & Cox will not be disqualified for late submission of candidate registration
Commission to oversee election proceedings has been largely inactive
In an email shared with The Tech, the UA Judicial Review Board determined that the former Election Commission chair, Scott Perry ’19, acted with “gross negligence” in fulfilling the duties required of him by the Election Code.
JudBoard determined that while one of the three UA presidential candidates Daysi Gomez ’18 did not submit her proof of registration by the deadline, she and her running mate, Elizabeth Cox ’18, should not be disqualified, since Gomez “was in regular communication” with Perry, who was responsible for “responding to and reminding the concerned candidates.”
JudBoard decided that the appropriate sanction for the Gomez/Cox ticket’s tardiness would be a notification on the voting website, which reads: “It has been determined by Undergraduate Association Election Commission that the Gomez/Cox ticket submitted some portion of their Election Packet late.”
The email was in response to concerns brought to JudBoard’s attention Monday afternoon by Alexa Martin ’19, the UA secretary and one of three vice presidential candidates, that material necessary to run as official candidates were submitted after the deadline by the other two election tickets.
Perry resigned shortly after JudBoard received Martin’s email. He declined to comment publicly on his resignation. Obasi Onuoha ’17 has accepted the nomination to act as interim chair.
JudBoard also determined that the campaign of Malte Ahrens ’17 was not in violation of the Election Code, having been given additional time to submit his campaign’s petition after the original VP candidate dropped out and was replaced, in accordance with the code.
The response was written by the chair of JudBoard, Wajeeha Ahmad ’17, and one of the two members of JudBoard, Cesar Reynosa ’17.
The UA Election Commission, intended to act as an independent board to oversee election proceedings, was inactive with the exception of Perry in the months leading up to the election.
The seven other members of the commission were never added to the ua-elect mailing list after they were elected by UA Council last fall. They thus never saw the signatures for petition or statements of candidacy submitted by the candidates. The only member of the commission who was on the mailing list was Perry, who was confirmed as chair earlier this year by the UA Council after being nominated by Kyle Archer ’18, the UA chief of staff.
According to article II, section A of the Election Code, the Election Commission “shall consist of no fewer than three” members of the UA.
Voting for class council and UA president and vice president was supposed to begin Monday morning, but an error in the online voting system prevented voters from casting their ballots until the issue was fixed Tuesday morning.
The UA Council voted Wednesday night to not extend the voting period. Voting will end Friday 5 p.m.