Originally Presented on: (MM/DD/YY)

Type of Action: TYPE: Legislation

Status/Result: New Business

1 S.A. Resolution #44

2 Clarifying the Results of the 2018 Presidential Race
3
4 ABSTRACT: This resolution confirms that the Judicial Codes Counselor provided ample evidence
5 that the Elections Committee’s decision to disqualify a candidate was biased, and orders the Office
6 of the Assemblies to release the votes in the Presidential race, thereby determining the next Student
7 Assembly President.
8
9 Sponsored by: Gabe Kaufman ‘18

10 Whereas, according to Article III, Section I of the Student Assembly Charter, “the SA will have authority
11 over its own policies and operations.”

12 Whereas, the Student Assembly Elections Committee is a committee of the Student Assembly;

13 Whereas, the Student Assembly has authority over the operation of the Elections Committee;

14 Whereas the Student Assembly strongly affirms the importance of an independent, unbiased, Elections
15 Committee;

16 Whereas, a candidate appealed, to the Judicial Codes Counselor, the SA Elections Committee’s decision to
17 disqualify the candidate;

18 Whereas, the SA Elections Committee disregarded the Judicial Codes Counselor’s determination that the
19 Elections Committee violated its own rules four times when choosing to disqualify a candidate and ignored
20 the Judicial Codes Counselor’s overturning of the disqualification, which itself is a fifth violation of the
21 election rules;

22 Whereas, the SA Elections Committee concealed the JCC’s report and threatened to refer the candidate to
23 the Judicial Administrator if he released the contents of the JCC’s report;

24 Whereas, when the Elections Rules are ambiguous, the Student Assembly has the authority to interpret the
25 governing document;

26 Whereas, the SA Elections Committee alleges that it has the final authority over the Judicial Codes
27 Counselor because the elections rules state that “If a disqualified candidate finds that the Elections
28 Committee was biased in their application of the rules, they may request a review by the Judicial Codes
29 Counselor (JCC). If the JCC review finds that the application of the rules was biased, the decision of the
30 Elections Committee may be overturned” and thus that the implied subject of the passive subjunctive “may
31 be overturned” to be the Elections Committee itself rather than the JCC;

32 Whereas, interpreting the rules in such as way so as to supply the Elections Committee itself as the implied
33 subject responsible for overturning its own biased decisions is an obviously unreasonable perversion of what
34 was clearly intended to be an unbiased appeal of the Elections Committee’s conduct;

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35 Whereas, according to Article II, Section B, sub-section 5 of the Elections Rules, “The Elections Committee
36 has no power to overrule the election rules under any circumstances.”

37 Whereas, in this circumstance, it appears the SA Elections Committee overruled the elections rules, which is
38 impermissible; then

39 Be it therefore resolved, the Student Assembly declares that the SA Elections Committee failed to follow its
40 own Elections Rules for the fifth time when it informed the candidate that he was still disqualified after the
41 Judicial Codes Counselor had overturned the Elections Committee for its previous four errors;
42
43 Be it further resolved, the Student Assembly declares that the current “results” for the Presidential race as
44 published by the Office of the Assemblies and as declared by the SA Elections Committee, are procedurally
45 invalid;
46
47 Be it further resolved, the committee’s repeated disregard for its procedures and apparent inability to
48 reasonably interpret its rules render its decision in the immediate case invalid;
49
50 Be it further resolved, that the Student Assembly recognizes that the candidate’s disqualification was in fact
51 duly overturned by the Judicial Codes Counselor and adopts the report as valid;
52
53 Be it further resolved, that the Student Assembly does not recognize that the Elections Committee has the
54 ability to ignore being overturned by the Judicial Codes Counselor given evidence that the committee was
55 biased;
56
57 Be if further resolved, the Student Assembly orders the Office of the Assemblies to release the vote count
58 for the Presidential race;
59
60 Be it further resolved, the Student Assembly declares the winner of the Presidential race to be the individual
61 who received the most votes;
62
63 Be it finally resolved, the Student Assembly thanks the members of the SA Elections Committee for their
64 time serving on the Committee this year;
65
66 Respectfully Submitted,
67
68 Gabe Kaufman ’18
69 Vice President for Finance, Student Assembly
70
71 (Reviewed by: Executive Committee, 4/12/2017)

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