Conor Moore | News Director
Off the heels of election season, several senators have come forward alleging numerous instances of electoral fraud by the Gold and Blue party, spearheaded by current SGA president Francesca Casanova and vice president candidate Wilkin Caseres.
These accusations range from disqualifying parties on dubious charges, changing meeting times, election dates and participation requirements at the last minute without informing other parties, slimming down the Elections Board from five members to two, removing the ability to write-in candidates and disallowing physical voting at BBC.
“I, along with several other members of the group that we’re running for election, had a tier one violation filed against us claiming that we did not attend a mandatory information session,” said Jennifer Brande, Hospitality Senator candidate.
“As I was looking over the SGA website, the information sessions were not listed as mandatory, and I even read the regulation one which did not have a date on it, and it was claimed that this was made publicly available as a mandatory briefing in person on two specific dates, but there is nothing anywhere in writing that states that,” she continued.
According to Brande, an appeals meeting for hospitality and BBC students was set up. However, it lasted only 10 minutes, and did not offer an option for those who could not attend physically. These dates also coincided with the South Beach Wine and Food Hospitality Festival, where many hospitality majors work, further ensuring that said students would not be able to attend the meeting.
More candidates spoke at length regarding the lack of transparency from Nikolaos Psarrakos and Sofia Gonzalez-Orbegoso, both of whom were appointed by the Francesca Casanova, leader of the Gold and Blue party.
“Well for starters, the Elections Board is supposed to be five people, not two,” said Dale Brochinsky, hospitality major and BBC governor candidate.
“The Elections Board pushed for the election to be moved a week early, but seem wildly unprepared. Pretty much any information the Elections Board was supposed to release, such as the voting guide and information packets, were not released,” said Brochinsky. “There is no option for write-in candidates on the ballot. No physical voting location exists at BBC.”
Previously, SIPA senator candidate German Mata spoke regarding the poor communication surrounding the disqualification of the Future Is You party, alleging that the Elections Board did not inform opposition candidates of last-minute mandatory meetings, whereby they were removed from campaigning.
According to Mata, such acts are unconstitutional by SGA’s laws, with Alexandra Barriga, biology major, adding she was disqualified from running due to the aforementioned uncommunicated changes.
Even candidates not involved with the events expressed concerns.
“I personally haven’t experienced any of it myself. But others I know that are campaigning have been having issues because of the mandatory meetings. I went to the meeting and it wasn’t anything I would say required to have been presented. [They] were quite short,” said Ezra Grover, Engineering Senate candidate.
The Gold and Blue party responded for comment, in response to the allegations of fraud.
“The mission of The Gold and Blue Party is to advocate for the student body, not play politics. Our organization has had wonderful interactions with many students. Students feel comfortable sharing their concerns with our candidates and often thank us for our hard work advocating for the student body,” said Gold and Blue in a written statement to PantherNOW.
“We will not let terrible allegations define our campaign. Our candidates abide by the rules set forth in the elections code.”
“No person should be disparaging others for working to advocate for the student body. At the end of the day, our focus is on our students. The Gold and Blue Party applauds the other students who have been campaigning this season, we need more students to get involved in SGA and we are proud to participate in that,” said the party.
Brochinsky later reached out to clarify he was referring to the Elections Board, not Gold and Blue.
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