Travis Williams and Aziza Bowser were certified as SGA president and vice president earlier today.
The move by the electoral commission comes hours after the SGA Supreme Court decided to uphold its decision to disqualify Larry O. Rivers and Virgil A. Miller from the race.
“The electoral commission voted to disqualify the Larry Rivers ticket for their multiple violations of election codes,” said Deputy Electoral Commissioner Mikal Lewis.
The Supreme Court upheld its decision from Friday to disqualify Rivers and Miller from the race after the ticket was disqualified by the Electoral Commission for accumulating too many penalty points while campaigning.
“We are disappointed in this decision,” said Micah C. Zeno, legal counsel for Rivers and Miller.
Under Student Body Constitution, the candidates can now appeal the judicial branch’s decision to university administration. Zeno said Rivers and Miller are planning to appeal the decision early next week.
Rivers and Miller were assessed 80 points by the electoral commission for violating electoral codes. The points were assessed for:
– Campaigning before Campaign Week; 30 points- No campaigning in SGA; 20 points- Blatant disregard of the codes; 30 points
The points for “pre-campaigning” stem from comments made by both candidates in the article “Candidates prepare for SGA election.”
The article ran in The Famuan on Feb. 24. The other points were assessed when Erin Barnes, SGA Senate Elections and Appointments chairperson, claimed she saw at least two students wearing a Rivers/Miller campaign t-shirt during an SGA meeting on March 5.
The Rivers/Miller ticket won the run-off election over Williams and Bowser, 1381-936.
“The students’ votes don’t count,” said Kenjay Williams, a 21-year-old business administration student from Denver. “We spent so much time telling students to come out and vote.”
Marlon A. Walker can be reached at marlonawalker@aol.com