With only 20 days until elections, the election supervisor has left the country, citing a “family emergency.” Chief Justice Max Leynov has been appointed to oversee elections, which according to Dean of Student Affairs Leslie Bates, “could seem like a conflict of interest.”

SG approved Ankit Jain in January as the Elections Liaison, which was three months after the October deadline that is in SG’s rules. The University Wide Council (UWC), which is a board of the highest-ranking SG officials, approves the liaison position and the liaison supervises the election.

Eight weeks after being in the position, Jain didn’t produce a timeline, an elections commission, or move the new elections office furniture from the hallway into the office.

On March 4, Poojitha Somereddy replaced Jain in an attempt to assure that the elections will happen before Graduation. Dean of Student Affairs Leslie Bates said after Graduation, student government would “seize” if there wasn’t an election.

On Tuesday, March 15, just 11 days after being approved, Somereddy’s timeline, which outlines important dates for elections, was approved on an emergency phone call of the UWC. Two days later, her keys and SG funded cell phone were turned in, as she left for her home country.

Because of the absence of the Election Liaison, Student Body President Alvira Khan, who is rumored to be running for re-election, has temporarily appointed Leynov to oversee the elections.

“We’ve talked with Alvira and she came up with a plan,” said Bates. “The court can handle the couple of things that are coming up that are crucial to making sure that the elections can happen on time. I have not received the plan in writing.”

So what’s the big deal?

Khan was a running mate with Leynov last election. So was Michael D’Eugenio, who had openly stated he was running for President, but he is no longer running for president of the Student Body.

Diana DeJesus who is running for Vice-President, Gary Goldberg who is running for Boca Governor, and a host of others that have said they were seeking an elected position this spring were also on the same election team.

Leynov, who as chief justice is supposed to alert the UWC and SG when they are breaking their own rules, and did not throughout the last five months of election violations, is breaking at least one rule of his own: holding two positions at once.

Last year’s Vice-President Brent Dell, who lost to Khan for President and is going to be running for president this year again, said that it’s ridiculous that Leynov is taking over elections. “That’s un-fucking believable, especially because she already appointed him to a position. It took him nearly nine months to get a court, and now he is going to be running the SG elections? That’s bullshit.”

How did Leynov get his job as chief justice? The student body president appoints over 20 positions after being elected, Chief Justice being one of them. “One of the things that happen when you have an incumbent is that they have the ability to make appointments,” said Bates, when asked if he thought there was a conflict of interest with Leynov taking over elections.

In SG’s election statutes it states, “The Election Liaison shall not hold another Student Government position while serving as Elections Liaison.” The election liaison is the student appointed to oversee elections, but cannot be involved with any candidate or hold any SG position concurrently.

“Max handling the election in any aspect is a conflict of interest,” said D’Eugenio. Goldberg said that it’s a conflict of interest because, “everyone is friends with Max,” and that, “he would have to make decisions that would go against one of his friends.” Neither Leynov nor Khan could be reached for comment after repeated attempts.

Students who have concerns about the election can petition the Election Commission, which is a group of students who work under the election liaison to help supervise the election. Because there is no election commission, all concerns would be forwarded to the student court, which Leynov chairs.

However if a petition involving Leynov’s conflict of interest were to be filed, the petition would be forwarded to the UWC, which is chaired by Khan.

Nonetheless, the election is still set to take place on April 12 and 13.