Last month over 2,200 students voted for their next student body president. Three weeks later, none of them knows who won.
That’s because losing presidential candidate Chuck Forbes is protesting the way his opponent, Tiffany Weimar, campaigned; Forbes submitted five formal complaints known in SG lingo as contestations.
He’s also calling the current Student Body President Abe Cohen irresponsible, Elections Chair Maria Rivera inexperienced, and the elections board — which dismissed all of the election complaints from both candidates without hearing their cases — incompetent.
“I don’t feel that it’s Maria [Rivera]’s fault, and I’m not saying she’s doing a bad job, but it’s clear she’s not the most experienced,” says Forbes, a sophomore majoring in communication.
Weimar, who is currently Boca governor, thinks Rivera did fine under the circumstances.
“I think Maria [Rivera]’s done a good job,” says Weimar. “She’s learning as she goes along and has handled the position pretty well for just being hired.”
The fact Rivera was just hired is the problem, according to Forbes.
“I like Abe Cohen and all, and he’s done a good job, but he appointed a freshman to be the elections chair a couple weeks before the election started,” says Forbes. “Obviously, Abe could’ve been a little more responsible and done it in a little more timely manner, though I know he’s a busy guy.”
Elections Chair Rivera — actually a sophomore who heads the three-member election board — said she was just “doing her job” in her decision to dismiss the complaints.
“They were all different, but if I could summarize it, some were lacking evidence and others were minor violations where hearings are not required,” says Rivera.
The election could’ve ended before it began, when Student Affairs made an error and wrongly disqualified Forbes. Then, he had to make an appeal just to participate. And the election could’ve ended here, after Rivera dismissed the contestations. But again, Forbes felt he had to appeal and try to get a run-off election, which would allow the students to vote a second time.
Election rules allow for candidates to appeal the elections board’s decision to the higher authority of the student court, and that’s what Forbes’ team did, calling the board “incompetent.”
Boca House Parliamentarian Allison Gentry, who supports Forbes and filed the appeal on his behalf, saw it coming.
“It was kind of expected because I felt all along it was gonna have to be decided by the student court,” says Gentry, citing the election board’s inexperience.
“For them to not touch it, that’s a little incompetent,” says Forbes, “It really is.”
According to Forbes, it’s not only incompetent, but is unfair and costly to the student body.
“If the election is as close as it is, let the chief justice do his job. That’s what he was appointed for. Let him make the best decision possible instead of letting someone with less experience cancel everything out,” says Forbes. “Students pay for this. To not have it go up as much as it can, you are cheating the student body.”
To put a number to what Forbes is saying students pay for, try $16,400 for starters: The elections chair position comes with a salary of $6,400, while the chief justice is a $10,000 position. And the student body president makes $12,500.
Forbes says he gets that he’s drawing out the election process but says it’s important for rehabilitating SG’s image.
“Who would want to get involved with a Student Government that every year has problems? I understand. So many students when we were campaigning said, ‘Aw, I’m not voting, it’s fickle, it changes every year,'” says Forbes. “Unfortunately, it does look bad for SG, but we said we’d tell everyone what’s going on, and this is what’s going on. We’re not gonna roll over and die. We’re gonna keep fighting until we can’t go any higher, because that’s how important it is.”
Weimar doesn’t mind.
“At this point, they’ve put in the work for the contestations, and if they have evidence and can prove things to be legitimate,” says Weimar, “I guess they don’t want to give up.”
Chief Justice Mike Burdman scheduled a meeting with his associate justices for Monday, March 13 at 5 p.m. where they’ll decide if Forbes’ appeal merits a hearing. If so, the election could go on another week.
“If we decide it merits a hearing, that’ll have to happen after 48 hours’ notice, so probably Wednesday or Thursday,” says Burdman, a senior art major. “I didn’t even really read the whole appeal yet, since I wanted to go over it together with the other justices.”
Because of the UP’s print schedule, we were unable to print the result of that meeting. By the time you read this, the election might be over — or it might not. Either way, check owlwatch.wordpress.com, the UP’s SG blog, for the latest.
