[ Golden Gater Online - March 18, 1997 ]
Britt Kreiswirth
Staff Writer
The Associated Students Elections Committee, which disbanded two weeks ago because of internal conflicts between its members, has decided it will stay together and oversee student government elections.
Voting began Monday and runs through Thursday until 7 p.m.
Meanwhile, the committee has tentatively scheduled a public forum to be held Tuesday in Malcolm X Plaza so AS candidates can present their issues and for students to ask questions.
"I don't feel the issues of the candidates came across in last week's debate," said Nellie Rahimzadeh, elections committee chair. "It was like a circus at one point."
Rahimzadeh also expects a larger turnout for the forum; about 30 students attended the debate last Tuesday.
Acknowledging their inability to reach agreements, committee members decided to give the 19-member AS Legislature authority over interpretations of the elections code. But Rahimzadeh, as chair, still has the responsibility to make sure candidates follow campaigning rules.
"My phone number was given to all candidates," Rahimzadeh said.
The committee's decision to conduct its business through the legislature was based on "eliminating the middleman," Rahimzadeh said, explaining that all of their decisions have been overseen by the legislature anyway.
The committee will continue to meet once a week after the elections to discuss results and what did and did not work with the elections process..
The four-member committee -- made up of legislature members -- last met on March 6 when it disbanded because of disagreements over whether two candidates should have been disqualified.
The candidates, Trina Olivo and Talitha Tayler, were disqualified because they missed the mandatory candidate meeting Feb. 26 and failed a second chance to become qualified by writing an essay. Members of the committee said they were disqualified because they turned in identical essays.
But the legislature took matters into their own hands and allowed the two candidates to run despite protests from three of four committee members.
Olivo and Tayler, running on the slate Progressive Students United, remain on the ballot following a judicial review.
Both candidates have been given a verbal warning from the judiciary and will receive a written warning in the next few days, but will have no further action taken against them.
"There was no explanation (in the codes) stating the essay had to be an individual effort," said Bailey Penzotti, chief justice.
In interpreting the committee's action, Penzotti wanted to give the candidates another chance, but thinks the candidates were wrong in missing the mandatory meeting.
"Technically, they could have been disqualified," Penzotti said.
Meanwhile, Olivo and Tayler have filed two grievances against the elections committee saying they were treated unfairly by committee member Eric Hammer, according to Langston Edwards, another committee member.
"This committee has followed guidelines to the best of our ability," Hammer said.
[ Golden Gater - March 18, 1997 ]