The fallout from the GUSA Constitutional Council’s decision to overturn February’s contested election result continued at last Tuesday’s GUSA Assembly meeting, in which both sides traded barbs but made little progress in reaching a final verdict.
Constitutional Council Chair J.B. Horgan (SFS ’05) attended the meeting as required by the constitution to present his ruling, which reversed $18 of fines against the presidential campaign of Kelley Hampton (SFS ’05) and Luis Torres (COL ’05). The decision overturned the Election Commission’s decision to disqualify the ticket and make runners-up Adam Giblin (SFS ’06) and Eric Lashner (COL ’05) president- and vice president-elect.
But Horgan’s presentation of the verdict devolved into an examination of legal minutiae and partisan bickering by supporters of both tickets involved.
Other questions included whether Adam Giblin (SFS ’06) and Eric Lashner (COL ’05) filed their appeal within the statute of limitations following the election. Some students said that their appeal could not have been filed within the statute of limitations because it depended upon specific, supposedly confidential, information about the Hampton-Torres campaign.
According to Lashner, he and Giblin filed their appeal well within the statute of limitations, even before the Hampton-Torres ticket filed their appeal with the Election Commission. He also said that he had reached an agreement with the Election Commission that the appeal would not take effect until the ruling concerning the Hampton-Torres appeal.
One bystander insinuated that the proceedings had become overwrought with legalese.
Horgan agreed. “Unfortunately we are not great legal scholars here. We’re basing this on what rudimentary legal understanding we have,” he said.
Giblin and Lashner are now awaiting a ruling from the Election Commission on their appeal. If the Commission rules in their favor, then the appeal will continue to the Constitutional Council. If the Constitutional Council rules against them, then Hampton and Torres will be sworn in as president and vice president of GUSA.
The delay has caused the postponement of assembly elections which will take place after the final ruling emerges.
