SGA Candidates File Appeal After Disqualification

2020 SGA executive candidates. From left to right: Rose Ingraham, Molly Schantz, Alexandra Valdes, Alexandra Ibarria.

Teresa Schuster / Staff Writer

Four candidates are disqualified from Student Government elections, according to a recent Instagram post by the elections board of the Modesto Maidique Campus Student Government Council.

The candidates, all from the Roar! political party, are disqualified for violating the election code, but remain on the ballot and students can vote for them.

The judicial branch released the verdict the evening of Monday, April 6, just hours before the election began. The next day the SGA Elections Board posted on Instagram that the candidates were disqualified.

Rose Ingraham, Molly Schantz, and Angel Algarin, were disqualified for violating campaigning rules and soliciting funding for the party before its official registration in February. On Tuesday April 7, they filed a joint appeal to Elizabeth Bejar, the vice president of academic and student affairs.

Ingraham’s appeal of the judicial branch’s verdict argued the disqualification is invalid since the trial was conducted improperly and the elections board had already decided the case. If the appeal is granted, all three candidates will be able to be elected. If not, they will remain disqualified.

The complaint to the judicial branch was filed on April 1 by Alexandra Valdes, the presidential candidate for The Future Is You party. The Elections Board posted about the disqualifications on Tuesday which led to questions being raised as to why the decision was announced in the middle of the first day of voting.

“How was an executive ticket disqualified on April 1st (according to this graphic) and voters were only informed of it now, *during the election*, quite literally while people are casting their votes? How does this NOT throw the results into question?” a user called @alexanacki commented on the Instagram post.

Ingraham is a presidential candidate and the leader of the Roar! party, and Schantz is the party’s vice-presidential candidate. Algarin serves as the campaign manager, and is also running for Senate. The trio served in senate this year.

Ingraham and Valdes are the only SGC-MMC presidential candidates running in the election.

Valdes also filed complaints with the elections board, against other candidates from the Roar! Party.

On April 1, senate candidate Hiba Khalil was issued a tier one penalty, the least severe, and was banned from digital campaigning for 24 hours.

On April 2, Jourdan (Ha) Le, a senate candidate, was issued a tier two penalty, receiving a 48-hour ban on digital campaigning. On April 6, Le received a tier three penalty, the most severe, and was disqualified from the election.

A case was also filed against senate candidate Sophonie Rosier on April 1, but was dismissed.

Valdez filed a case against the Roar! party itself on April 1. The party was issued a tier three penalty, and was banned from campaigning for three days.

The elections board has not released details of any of the cases.

The candidates will remain on the ballot in case their appeal is granted.

SGA elections are being held online today and tomorrow, between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. each day.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated with further information.

1 Comment on "SGA Candidates File Appeal After Disqualification"

  1. This is absolutely atrocious, disqualifying candidates the day OF elections for obscure charges that aren’t even available for the public’s appraisal is definitely failing to scrutinize the ruling party.

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