The Internal Vice President and legislative branch of Associated Students were found to have engaged in interference with the spring quarter general election on April 29, per an Associated Students Judicial Council ruling. The final election ballot remains undecided after over a week of delay.
Associated Students (A.S.) Judicial Council is recommending that the declaration of candidacy deadline be extended to Friday, May 2 at 6 p.m. Once the Elections Board announces a new election plan, the Judicial Council will lift the injunction on the election, allowing it to move forward.
According to the Judicial Council decision letter, a motion made at the April 16 senate meeting to allow the Elections Board to accept candidates past the deadline violated A.S. Legal Code Policy 10.
“The personal stakes of those Senators running for office and at the urging of Senate leadership, resulted in a biased vote. Under ideal and balanced circumstances, the result of this motion may have been entirely different. The ASUCSB Legislature, as a holistic deliberative body, had the opportunity to adhere to the legal code and make the informed choice to recuse themselves on a vote directly tied to their personal, electoral interests,” the decision letter read.
Because senators running for office this election cycle were involved in this vote, the legislative branch was held liable for the policy breach.
Internal Vice President Açúcar Pinto did not respond to requests for comment.
According to the Judicial Council Petition released on April 19, fourth-year chemistry major and A.S. Attorney General Eric Carlson investigated senators for claims of “conspiracy to control” the ballot by “using the power of their position.”
“The Office of the Attorney 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.
This followed weeks of back and forth between the Senate and Elections Board over approval of the spring election ballot, then a presidential veto on the ballot for “election interference” and an “assault” on A.S. membership rights on April 18.
The Judicial Council chair, third-year political science major Krishna Thaker, first said that the hearing would be set for April 25, the day before voting was supposed to open. However, they announced the day of that it would be rescheduled due to the Judicial Council granting a motion for continuance — a formal request to postpone the scheduled proceeding.
Prior to the hearing, rescheduled to April 25, the Judicial Council placed an injunction on the election, leading to a hold on the ballot and preventing the elections board and candidates from proceeding with election efforts.
The petitioners, including Carlson and three other members of the Office of the Attorney General, initially asked that the Elections Board launch an investigation into the “integrity” of the election ballot and edit candidates on the ballot in accordance with their findings.
Carlson did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
As of Tuesday, no information has been released about the election schedule or further plans to proceed. Election Board chair Ruby Hewitt did not respond to requests for comment.
A version of this article appeared on p. 1 of the May 1, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.
