The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) convened on Thursday, March 13 to discuss an appeal for reconsidering the disqualification of a USG Senate candidate.

Rich Chen, a freshman majoring in history, came to appeal his case and explained he was disqualified because he created a personalized petition on Google Forms to send out to voters. 

The Elections Board, made up of the same members of the Judicial Board, argued that according to the Elections Board’s bylaws, candidates are not allowed to make their own petitions. In order for candidates to do so, they need to have a valid reason and have prior approval from the Elections Board. 

At-large Senator Sophia Dimont asked Chen if the Elections Board communicated which bylaw violation led to his disqualification, to which he responded that they did not. 

Chen also explained that the Elections Board would not allow him to use the votes gathered on the form he created. USG President Nistha Boghra asked Chen if he had offered the Elections Board access to the Google Form in an attempt to use the votes. He responded that he didn’t offer to do so and only started using the correct form after the board told him he was unable to use the signatures he already obtained. 

Once Chen finished presenting, he stepped out of the room and the Elections Board virtually presented their decision to disqualify him.

Testimony Odekhian, chair of the Elections Board and vice chief justice of the Judicial Board, said that the Elections Board unanimously voted to disqualify Chen due to failing to read the emails containing documents that were sent to him. She explained that the Elections Board is responsible for emailing Senate candidates personalized petition forms that they can use, one of which was sent to Chen’s email. 

She presented the email sent to Chen with the Google Form the Elections Board created, along with the deadlines to collect votes and the rules of where to petition. Odekhian said that Chen making his own form was a clear violation of the board’s bylaws and undermined the integrity of the petitioning process.

At-large Senator Charlie Brown replied to Odekhian, arguing that the bylaws do not explicitly state that candidates are not allowed to make their own petitions.

“The bylaws say all necessary forms, which include the petition form, the intent form [and] the eligibility form must be created by the chair of the Elections Board,” Odekhian responded, referring to the USG Constitution. 

Odekhian explained that Chen told her he had received the email with the form from the Elections Board, but had forgotten that he had access to it. She argued that this further demonstrated his negligence in following electoral procedures. She also noted that the Elections Board’s records show that Chen was the first person to sign the petition he was provided by the board, which confirmed he had access to it and that it was functioning correctly. 

Luca Rallis, assistant to USG Vice President of University Affairs Sarah Elbaroudy, referred back to Brown’s statement. Rallis emphasized that the bylaws don’t clearly state that candidates cannot make their forms, but they do lineate the minimum requirements of how to go about conducting elections  such as petition deadlines and the duration of allotted signature collections. 

Rallis then referred to the bylaws, which state that the Elections Board has the ability to disqualify a candidate if the vote is unanimous and the violation done by the candidate is deemed especially heinous.

“Could you explain why the board believes this is an especially heinous violation?” Rallis then asked. 

“Creating your own form when knowing fully well that the Elections Board has communicated that we’re sending out people’s petitions forms to ensure the integrity and transparency of petition week is a clear violation of the communication and the plan of the elections to ensure that the petition signatures are collected accurately and properly,” Odekhian replied. 

She emphasized that Chen had no reason to create his own form due to not having communicated any misunderstandings about the form distribution process.

“There was no valid reason for him to create his own form when he knew he had one created for him,” she said. “If candidates are allowed to submit their own unauthorized materials … [it] could lead to fraudulent or invalid submissions.”

Odekhian also noted that the issue of Chen creating his own Google form was brought to light because he realized he made a mistake on his form and reached out to the Elections Board for help.

“[Chen] realized he made a mistake with his own form,” Odekhian explained. “Three days after the commencement of the petition week, he reached out to us to fix a form that was neither created nor approved [by the Elections Board].”

Rallis pointed out that in Odekhian’s presentation, there was a photo provided by the Elections Board that showed Chen testing out his Google Form and voting for himself. When students vote, their names and student emails must be provided in order for their votes to count. Rallis noted that the photo did not show Chen’s email and questioned if there was an error with the form itself. 

“Was there an issue with the forms you originally sent out to candidates and [that] could have potentially caused candidates to be confused?” Rallis asked. 

Odekhian explained that when the Elections Board had revisited all the candidates’ forms, they noticed that emails were not being collected, which resulted in Odekhian having to adjust the settings of each individual form to automatically collect students’ email information. 

“This [issue with the forms] was fixed before petitioning week started or before candidates [started collecting votes] from people,” Odekhian said. “It’s not like this was reasoning for him to create a new form and even if this was the reason for him to feel like he had to create a new form, he could have communicated that.” 

She then pointed out that Chen mentioned he referred to the format of a form provided by the Elections Board that another candidate was using when he created his. 

“If you know that another candidate has a form and you feel like you don’t have a form, the reasonable thing for you to do is to reach out to the Elections Board and request a form or [find out] the reason why you don’t have a form,” Odekhian argued.

“If the Elections Board has made mistakes, why are the candidates not allowed to make mistakes, and how is a mistake an especially heinous act?” Rallis asked.

Chief Justice and Election Board member David Safo replied to Rallis and explained that they were not accusing Chen of doing something heinous nor implying he cannot make mistakes.

 “We’re not saying that candidates are not allowed to make mistakes and we’re not saying that [Chen committed] a heinous act,” Safo said. “We expect the Election[s] Board to ensure [the signatures’] validity.”

At-large Senator Uzair Mahmud then asked what made Chen’s actions worth disqualifying without receiving a warning beforehand. 

“[Part of the reason] is him not reading or going through the proper channels of communication that led him to make a mistake that could have been avoided,” Odekhian said. “[Chen] admitted to not reading the emails and then went ahead to make a mistake … we’re not accusing [him of] malicious intent.” 

At-large Senator Christian Jean-Pierre followed up by asking if any other situations or mistakes like this have happened during this specific electoral process. 

“[Has] there been any other situation in the elections process in which a warning or a disqualification was given out to a candidate, and what makes this situation different from those?” Jean-Pierre asked. 

Odekhian explained that another candidate told the Elections Board that sometimes they fail to read thoroughly through emails and information. She noted the stark difference was that the other candidate had reached out to the Elections Board to confirm certain pieces of information before making a mistake, unlike Chen.

After a lengthy discussion between the Elections Board and the Senate, the Elections Board members were put into a waiting room within the Zoom call so that the Senate could discuss the matter privately.

At-large Senator Shriram Hegde motioned to override the Election Board’s decision because he argued that Chen is a freshman and new to the process. He said that Chen did not intend to make a mistake.

Jean-Pierre then asked if Chen would receive a warning if the disqualification was overturned, to which Boghra replied that it could be added to the motion.

Elbaroudy reminded the Senate that when a student came in for an appeal last year, they were not issued any type of warning.

Rallis then argued that Chen did not technically commit a violation since the election bylaws do not outright say that candidates cannot create their own petitions. 

“There’s nothing in [any USG-governing document] that says he can’t create a form himself, [but] that doesn’t mean those signatures are going to be valid,” Rallis stated. “[Even] if he created a form that did include all [the requirements stated by the Elections Board], the signatures couldn’t be valid [because of the Elections Board’s practices]. [But] that doesn’t mean it’s a violation of the bylaws [because a rule preventing candidates from creating their own petition is not explicitly written in any bylaw].”

The majority of the Senate voted to overturn the decision to disqualify Chen and not apply any warning. They then debated on how to handle the signatures on both the form he created and the one the Elections Board provided him with.

“I say the signatures from his own form should probably be invalid, just as a precaution,” Dimont said. “However, I do believe he should receive an extension to get more signatures, seeing how there’s a significantly [smaller] time frame for him.”

At-large Senator Taher Motiwala proclaimed that if there were to be an extension of time for Chen, it would only be fair to also give an extension to the other candidates.

At-large Senator Minal Iftikhar disagreed, contending that the other candidates have an advantage compared to Chen and that their goal is to give him a fair chance.

“[Chen] is at a disadvantage in the first place compared to other people,” Iftikhar argued. She explained that it isn’t about evening the playing field for the other candidates, but rather giving Chen the same chance other candidates had.

However, the Senate ultimately decided not to give Chen an extension and did not allow him to use the signatures on the form he created. Instead, the Senate voted to lower the minimum number of votes Chen needs in order to appear on the General Election ballot. The Senate lowered the threshold from 100 to 75 votes and gave him the same deadline as the other candidates. During this vote, 11 senators abstained and 12 voted in favor of lowering the threshold.