The Associated Students spring quarter general election, initially set to open Tuesday morning, has been postponed indefinitely following a case opened April 19 regarding electoral interference in the Senate. Alongside candidates for student government, the ballot will include multiple fee initiatives and reaffirmations for campus groups.
Weeks of back and forth between the Senate and Elections Board over approval of the spring election ballot were followed by a presidential veto on April 18. A Judicial Council case and injunction against the Internal Vice President and the legislative body were brought forth by the Attorney General. The ongoing case made way for an injunction, leading to a hold on the ballot, and prevented the elections board and candidates from proceeding with elections efforts.
According to the Judicial Council Petition released on April 19, fourth-year chemistry major and Associated Students (A.S.) Attorney General Eric Carlson has been investigating senators for claims of “conspiracy to control” the ballot by “using the power of their position.”
“The Office of the General has been investigating allegations of senators conspiring to meet with students who declared for election to convince them to change their declaration or to drop out of the race,” the petition read.
“The selective exemption for candidates from deadlines without upholding entitlement rights of common members demonstrates institutional bias. Likewise, the conspiratorial nature of meeting with candidates either before or after the declaration of candidacy deadline is deeply disturbing,” the petition continued.
The petitioners, including Carlson and three other members of the Office of the Attorney General, are seeking the Elections Board to launch an investigation into “integrity” of the election ballot and edit candidates on the ballot in accordance with their findings. Carlson did not respond to requests for comment.
Fourth-year economics and communication double major and senator Taylor Iden said at the April 23 senate meeting that he was the “whistleblower” who alerted Carlson of “egregious behavior,” as well as “discrimination, harassment and bullying” in the Senate, promoting the investigation. According to Iden, a group of 17 senators partook in a group chat, sending inflammatory messages about other senators and Carlson.
“I’ve come forward with evidence of wrong-doings by members of this body to the office of the Attorney General, under good faith that whistleblower protections would be respected. And I did so out of concern for potential retaliation that could follow,” Iden said.
Fourth-year art major and Internal Vice President Açúcar Pinto, who is a respondent in the case, did not respond to requests for comment.
This comes after A.S. President and third-year political science and sociology double major Nayali Broadway vetoed the Senate’s approval of the election ballot on April 18, citing “election interference” and an “assault” on A.S. membership rights.
“After bearing witness to an egregious pattern of behavior that has consistently and contemptibly sought to disenfranchise students, work against equal treatment of our peers and control recruitment outcomes, such as in the AS Election, I feel obligated to act. Because of this, in order to protect the eventual certification of our democratic process, I issue this veto to defend not just the greater campus body, but to defend the students who had hoped to participate in a free and fair election,” Broadway said in a statement attached to her veto.
Broadway addressed her veto at the April 23 senate meeting, claiming it served to “preserve” the A.S. democratic process.
“Last week there were allegations made on the Senate floor where students have woefully worked to disenfranchise their peers in an effort to control the outcomes of the election. Evidence has been provided to confirm these allegations, which are waiting adjudication by the Judicial Council,” Broadway said.
Broadway denied requests for comment.
The Judicial Council chair, third-year political science major Krishna Thaker, initially said that the hearing would be set for Monday, the day before the voting opened, however announced the day of that it would be rescheduled due to Judicial Council granting a motion for continuance — a formal request to postpone the scheduled proceeding.
Roughly two hours later, the Judicial Council sent out a notice of the injunction placing an immediate “hold on all activity related” to the ballot and effectively ending the candidate forum, which started less than 30 minutes before. According to second-year political science major and A.S. Elections Board chair Ruby Hewitt, the candidate forum is space for candidates to share their platforms and engage with the student body.
“This follows a unanimous vote of The Council after two petitions for a preliminary injunction were submitted to the council on grounds that current ASUCSB elected officials sought to disenfranchise students, prevent equal treatment of all Associated Student members and control election recruitment outcomes,” the notice of injunction read.
According to Thaker, the pending Judicial Council case and two requests for injunction, alongside Broadway’s veto, mean the election would be unable to continue. Thaker was unable to disclose further information about the ongoing case.
“When the president issued her veto of Senate’s approval of the ballot, that effectively vetoed, obviously, the vote to approve the ballot, meaning that pending a senate vote to override that veto, there is still a veto on that ballot, so to move forward with an election would be in violation directly of president Broadway’s veto,” Thaker said.
Hewitt said the Elections Board will convene at its regular Thursday meeting time to find alternative elections options for the time being, but was unable to elaborate further.
“Elections board will be discussing the potential of a different election schedule, since we don’t have a ballot,” Hewitt said.
The Elections Board directed all candidates to remove all campaign material, including boards on campus and social media posts, in an April 22 email after the election postponement. As of Thursday morning, several campaign boards are left standing around campus.
“While we await the Judicial Council’s deliberation, please refrain from campaigning online and in person. In that vein, we ask that you remove your campaign boards by tomorrow, Wednesday, April 23, at 8 AM. Any form of campaigning, including the display of campaign boards, may subject you to an infraction for campaigning outside of the campaign period,” Hewitt said in the email.
Prior to the injunction, Hewitt said initial debates about the ballot were regarding how write-in candidates are displayed due to conversations in the Senate about “collusion” against outside candidates. The Elections Board meeting minutes show there are currently write-in candidates running for president, as well international, transfer and off-campus senator positions.
According to Hewitt, the Elections Board unanimously approved the decision at an April 17 meeting to include write-in candidate names on the ballot in a designated section. Hewitt was unable to confirm if this decision is precedent in A.S., and said it would help students be “more clear about what their options are,” since only approved write-in candidates may be viable in the election.
“What we deliberated on last week was to include the names of the write-in candidates on the actual ballot itself, underneath the box where the write-in option is displayed. That way, students who are voting are more clear about what their options are for write-in candidates,” Hewitt said.
Despite election uncertainty, Article X, Section 2 of the A.S. Legal Code mandates that the spring quarter election “shall be completed by the fifth (5th) week of the Spring quarter.” As of now the Judicial Council hearing is scheduled for this Friday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Judicial Council office in A.S. Main.
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