The Judicial Court of the Texas A&M Student Government Association ruled Wednesday afternoon in the O’Rourke v. Douglas appeal case to uphold the disqualification of Class of 2018 presidential candidate Samuel O’Rourke.
O’Rourke, a history freshman, will not serve as the Class of 2018 president, despite acquiring 78 percent of the vote. O’Rourke filed an appeal this weekend after learning he had been disqualified from running for not filing an expense report, despite spending no money on his campaign.
Emma Douglas, SGA election commissioner, said in an interview with The Battalion earlier this week that election rules state students must file an expense report or a null-expenditure statement.
“All candidates must submit a finance report and all receipts from campaigning on the first day of voting by 5:00 p.m.,” A statement said in the case summary. “Candidates failing to comply shall be disqualified the first day of voting at 5:00 p.m.”
O’Rourke said he disagrees with the ruling and felt he had a compelling argument that had merit.
“I even gave an alternative to disqualification –– I referred to Article 4 Section C which lists a withheld finance report, which was the reason Miss Douglas gave for disqualifying me, as a major offense, which, according to the regulations, can result in one of two ‘unreasonable’ penalties,” O’Rourke said. “A fine of up to 15 percent of the candidate’s total allotted budget — $60 in my case — or disqualification.”
In the future, O’Rourke said he hopes SGA better clarifies this rule and other rules.
“It’s very clear that there are problems with Article V in terms of filing expense reports, and that’s the Senate’s job,” O’Rourke said. “I hope this case brings discrepancies to light for future elections. It was my responsibility to turn in the null expenditure report, not the election commission’s. So I respect the court’s ruling.”