Kelley Hampton (SFS ’05) and Luis Torres (COL ’05) will file an appeal with the GUSA Constitutional Council Tuesday to contest Monday’s Student Association presidential election. The pair received the most votes, but was disqualified for exceeding the allowable fine limit.

President-elect Adam Giblin (SFS ’06) and Vice President-elect Eric Lashner (COL ’05), who play no direct role in the appeals process, have already begun to pursue their platform goals.

But because of the pending challenges, the GUSA Assembly has yet to approve the election results.

Hampton and Torres were disqualified because campaign violations led to $42 in fines that put the pairs’ expenditures above the allowed amount. They appealed those fines to the Election Commission Monday evening, but that appeal was rejected.

The pair will now appeal those fines to the Constitutional Council, whose decision is final. According to Torres, seven fines in total will be appealed and if any fine over $4 is overturned, the disqualification will be nullified.

With respect to the Election Commission, Torres emphasized that it has been a learning process for everyone. “I never expected the Election Commission to know the full procedure and they’re learning as they go along,” he said.

Tuesday evening’s Assembly meeting provided more questions than answers for the several students who attended to express their concerns about the election.

GUSA Elections Commission Chair Lisa Lombardo (COL ’04) decided not to present the results of the election to the Assembly or comment to the press until all questions have been resolved. Assembly Chair Jack Ternan (COL ’04) said, “It’s entirely unclear what we’re supposed to be doing.”

Giblin, who observed the meeting said, “There was no actual business regarding the election [during the meeting], so a dialogue of hearsay doesn’t seem to benefit anyone.”

The GUSA Constitution instructs the Assembly to certify the results of the election and some discussion was raised as to whether that certification constitutes the power to reject the results.

A majority of representatives endorsed candidates and there was some debate as to whether they should recuse themselves from the vote.

GUSA President Brian Morgenstern (COL ’05), who had endorsed Giblin and Lashner, explained that the Assembly’s certification is merely saying that the election numbers are correct, not whether or not the Assembly accepts or rejects the results.

He encouraged representatives involved in campaigns to not vote.

“We were not elected to abstain from tough votes,” Ternan said in disagreement. “I have full confidence in the ability of my peers to make prudent and just decisions, and if some representatives abstain, it will be to avoid unfair accusations of corruption.”

Giblin said that the decision for representatives to vote or not is a difficult one. “Assembly members most able to make rational decisions are likely to decide to abstain from voting, which leaves partisan voters to vote.”

Giblin said that he hopes that the appeals process moves swiftly but not recklessly.

“Legitimacy will be a big enough question as is,” he said. “It can only be worse if this process is drawn out.” He emphasized that he and Lashner are eager to pursue their goals, but little can be done until they are sworn in. “Ultimately it is the students of Georgetown who lose out if this process takes a month.”

Representative Pravin Rajan (SFS ’07) summarized general sentiment when he said, “I don’t think anyone is going to leave this happy.”