Twister Murchison (SFS ’08) will be presented to the GUSA Assembly tonight as the winner of this month’s presidential election after the Election Appeals Board voted Saturday to uphold the disqualification of the top vote-getting candidates.
The decision effectively closes all avenues of appeal for Khalil Hibri (SFS ’07) and Geoff Greene (SFS ’08), who were disqualified from the election last Monday for violating a directive of the Election Commission. However, in a last-ditch effort to overturn the result, the candidates say they will call on the Assembly to reject the final tally at their meeting tonight.
If the Assembly votes to certify the results, Murchison and running-mate Salik Ishtiaq (SFS ’07) will be inaugurated tonight as the first ticket in recent memory to become president and vice president despite losing the vote.
In appealing their disqualification, Hibri and Greene argued that the commission violated several of the student associaton’s bylaws during and after the election. The board said that it upheld the disqualification because Hibri and Greene did not prove that the commission had acted with an active bias against them.
“It is not the place of the Election Appeals Board to effectively `re-decide’ a ruling of the Election Commission; rather, its purpose is to ensure that said ruling was achieved without bias,” the ruling said.
The board acknowledged in the ruling that the commission had violated certain bylaws regarding the time frame of the appeals process, but said these errors did not represent a “significant challenge to the integrity of the Election Commission’s ruling.”
Hibri, who plans to attend tonight’s Assembly meeting, said that while the board did not find evidence of a bias against his ticket, the Assembly could still take action if it felt his disqualification was unfair.
“The bylaws limited any action by the appeals board as this was clearly not a case of bias,” Hibri said. “It is true, they cannot correct a wrong with another wrong. However, the Assembly should take the right decision in this case by not approving our disqualification.”
Murchison said that he and Ishtiaq, who are both members of the Assembly, plan to abstain from the vote on certification in the interest of fairness.
“I don’t want to speculate upon what the results might be,” Murchison said. “It seems a little presumptuous.”
Assembly Chair Ed Duffy (SFS ’07) said that he does not know how the Assembly will vote tonight because there is no clear definition of certification.
“I don’t think there is any sort of precedent, at least in recent history,” Duffy said. “It probably will be a relatively close vote. Definitely people will be entrenched in both groups.”
An uncertain future would lie ahead for GUSA if the Assembly votes against certification of the results, as Duffy said there is no clear provision in the constitution for who would assume office in that scenario.
But Assembly member Christina Goodlander (SFS ’07) that she thinks the members will vote against confirmation.
“The Election Commission has acted outside of the bylaws,” Goodlander said. “They’re not acknowledging that the Assembly has oversight over them.”
Member Anthony Bonna (MSB ’09) said that although he was a member of Murchison’s campaign staff, he is leading the move against certification.
Bonna said that with the exception of a few specific violations, the Election Commission must seek the approval of the Assembly in order to disqualify an executive ticket. He added that he plans to request a vote on the Assembly’s position regarding the disqualification before any vote regarding certification of the elections.
Murchison said that whatever the Assembly decides tomorrow, he will treat the decision as final.
“I’ve got respect for people to do their jobs in accordance with the rules,” he said. “Our campaign has always consistently followed the rules, and the rules are about respect.”
