Students will now be able to vote for one additional candidate, Damon Crossland, after the Student Government Association Judicial Court ruled in his favor following a case of election filing error.
The biomedical sciences freshman filed for freshman class president during the Sept. 21-23 filing period, but his filing never went through. J-Court sought to determine whether or not Crossland was “negligent in failing to check his submission,” and whether or not he “took the steps of a reasonable person in verifying his submission.”
Filing involves submitting several forms and paying the filing fee. As evidence that he had in fact executed the process correctly and completely, Crossland provided “a document showing his submission in progress before the alleged technical error took place.”
According to the court’s opinion, the justices were hesitant to issue a ruling because of the “Pandora’s Box” it could open, where other students who fail to correctly file may be able to claim technical errors similar to the one that caused Crossland’s trouble. The court ruled in Crossland’s favor, however, based on the evidence he provided.
Voting for fall student elections opens Thursday Oct. 1 and closes Friday Oct. 2.
