Major grievance filed against Abbas-Kelly ticket, official election results awaiting trial
The official result of who will be presiding as student body president and vice president for the 2021-22 term is still uncertified as a major grievance was filed against the Jaida Abbas and Jennifer Kelly ticket.
A trial will be held by the Student Government (SG) Supreme Court April 9 to hear the grievance alleged against the Abbas-Kelly presidential ticket. Depending on the trial’s outcome, the ticket could be disqualified from the race.
Specific information on the type of grievance hasn’t been shared because it’s an ongoing investigation, according to Gary Manka, director of SG Advising, Training and Operations.
“The major grievances are court trials and those take much longer and any records will need to be sent sometime after April 9 or later depending on the conclusion of the court trials,” Manka wrote in an email to The Oracle.
The trial is open to the public and will be held April 9 on Microsoft Teams from 3-6 p.m.
The Abbas-Kelly ticket won by a 53% majority during the general election. Out of the 1,327 ballots cast, 711 were for the Abbas-Kelly ticket and 616 for the Julia Cunningham and Jillian Wilson ticket.
In the event that the ticket is disqualified from the race, the SG Senate will evaluate its options to choose the next student body president and vice president.
“If the processes aforementioned in the Title 7 cannot select an official and sworn student body president and student body vice president within 10 business days before the start of Spring Commencement, then the Student Senate of the previous term shall select from the certified pool of campaign tickets a joint presidential and vice presidential ticket to be the president and vice president,” according to the SG statutes 707.7.
The current pool of campaign tickets, aside from the Abbas-Kelly ticket, consists solely of the Cunningham-Wilson ticket.
A selection of “last resort” will occur even if there are pending litigations or disputes against the ticket, according to the SG statutes. The student body president and vice president selected by “last resort” will be subject to a vote of confidence by the student body during the next midterm election.
This is a developing story. Stay with The Oracle for more updates.
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