Five members of the Progressive Coalition reversed the student vote and handed their slate the Associated Students election victory.
Almost a month after two grievances were filed against the Student Struggle slate alleging elections code violations stemming from an illegal social at Mary Ward Hall, the AS legislature voted five to one with three abstentions to disqualify the entire Struggle slate. Struggle had unofficially taken the top two AS seats and 10 of 19 positions on the legislature.
The five in favor of disqualifying Struggle were from the Unity slate, which was sponsored by the Progressive Coalition party, the group that also sponsored the Unified Student Movement slate.
The sole dissenter was Eddie Jen, a former Unity member who supported Struggle this election. Three legislators abstained -- Steve Navarro, the Elections Committee chair; Elizabeth Keim of the now-defunct Coalition for Change and a member of the Elections Committee; and Maxwell Leung, the administrative representative. Two people were absent, one from CFC and one from Unity.
The decision was based on a recommendation from the Elections Committee -- made up of four Unity members and one from CFC.
USM's Troy Buckner-Nkrumah, who came in second with 494 votes for AS president behind Kenyan McCarthy of Struggle with 565, was approved by the legislature as the new president.
"I think it was a just decision," Buckner-Nkrumah said. "They cheated and justice prevailed. You can't cheat and get away with it."
As he was addressing the legislature, McCarthy said he accepted the decision, but after the meeting he said Struggle wasn't accepting defeat just yet.
"They basically disqualified Student Struggle on one incident," McCarthy said about the legislature's vote. "Student Struggle will take appropriate action. Stay tuned, the saga continues."
McCarthy, however, wouldn't elaborate on what action would be taken.
Buckner-Nkrumah said he expects Struggle to file an injunction in San Francisco Superior Court.
The legislature heard recommendations from the Elections Committee on four other grievances. First, concerning campaigning inside the Cesar Chavez Student Center, the legislature took the Elections Committee's recommendation to disregard the complaint against an unknown Struggle supporter because the violation didn't affect the outcome of the election.
The second grievance was filed against Jen, who wore a Struggle campaign badge in the student center. The legislature voted that he didn't deliberately violate the law, that it was human error and that he should write a formal apology to the legislature.
The grievance filed against independent presidential candidate Jon Artigo was found valid and he was disqualified. Supporters used e-mail that distributed campaign messages to students on campus, which were accessible through J. Paul Leonard Library and the student center. Both of these buildings are off-limits during campaigns.
A similar grievance filed against Struggle was also found valid, but it was moot because of the decision to disqualify the slate.