The Associated Students board of directors voting period began on April 11 and ended on April 15. The unofficial voting results were released Monday via Instagram.
Various positions for the board of directors went uncontested following a decrease of candidates. Karina Zamora for president, Harsh Patel for vice president of internal affairs and Jeel Kankotiya for vice president of external affairs all ran without opponents.
All three candidates were a part of the same slate – which is similar to a political party – The AdvoGators.
The business representative and the education representative positions were not filled. AS Elections Commissioner Lily Gutierrez said that she isn’t sure as to why no one ran for those two positions but they will most likely be appointed by the board.
According to Gutierrez, results are unofficial until all possible grievances toward the elected officials have been resolved in accordance with the elections code and grievance policy.
Gutierrez said that grievances are formal complaints made by another candidate, accusing them of not following the election code.
The AS Judicial Council held a Zoom meeting on April 20 at 2 p.m. to review the evidence surrounding the grievances.
For this election, there were two reported grievances: Anonymous v. The AdvoGators 4 and Anonymous v. Anandadhara Zulkarnine – the elected liberal and creative arts representative.
Anonymous alleged that members of The AdvoGators left flyers on a table in the downstairs level of the Cesar Chavez Student Center where Gator Groceries is held. This is against election code, which states that campaigning can’t be done at AS events. They also provided two photos to show where the flyers were placed.
Zamora, leader of The AdvoGators, wrote a 20-page statement to defend the slate. In the statement, she said that the flier in the photo looks like it was planted since there was only one.
Zamora also pointed out that the photo is of bad quality, not straight on from a distance so it may have been taken in secret. She added that the flier is not an original graphic made by The AdvoGators.
Additionally, she attached screenshots of conversations between members of The AdvoGators as proof that they reached out to Gutierrez and AS Leadership Development Coordinator Christine Amador to know when and where campaigning is permitted.
“I took the liberty of reaching out to Gator Groceries and they couldn’t find the flier themselves,” Amador said. “They looked at the table and the materials that they had that day, and the staff confirmed that they didn’t see this flier.”
This led AS Executive Director Tonee Sherrill to believe that the flier was planted. Sherrill dismissed the case and The AdvoGators were acquitted.
In the grievance of Anonymous v. Anandadhara Zulkarnine, anonymous alleged that Zulkarnine used iLearn to send campaign emails, which is against election code.
“In my defense, I would like to say that the entire situation was a misunderstanding and probably a silly mistake and from my end which I am ready to apologize for,” Zulkarnine wrote in a statement.
She took a theater arts class in Fall 2020 and had acquaintances in that class that said that they would vote for her.
She said that she could’ve messaged them on Discord or Instagram but felt sending an email would get more attention. Zulkarnine said she had trouble remembering the last names of her classmates so she went back to the theater arts class on iLearn to get that information.
Zulkarnine thinks she may have copied the name of someone that she didn’t know by mistake and sent them an email that included the voting link. Sherrill imposed a warning on Zulkarnine.
The 2022-23 board of directors assumed their positions yesterday in a transition period that will last until the end of May. Afterward, they will have an inaugural celebration and the new board’s term will officially commence June 1.
