Student Court decision pending, Travis-Horan off MSA presidential ballot

Posted to On Campus by Kelly Olejnik at 9:25 p.m., Nov. 10, 2010

The Missouri Students Association presidential slate for Josh Travis and Michelle Horan was issued a second intentional infraction by the Board of Election Commissioners on Wednesday. This action, according to the BEC handbook, would keep the candidates off the ballot.

The BEC found Travis-Horan guilty of lack of documentation regarding PayPal donations, inaccurate reports resulting from the lack of documentation of the PayPal accounts and discrepancies involving expenditures. According to the second infraction, the BEC believes the action of Travis-Horan are intentional and are defined in the BEC handbook as the falsification of official BEC document forms.

According to the second infraction, the BEC requested Travis-Horan's financial records regarding their bank account and PayPal on Tuesday and has yet to receive a response.

"Our treasurer and I have very busy schedules and have not made it to the bank," Travis said. "We still have class and I am in Jefferson City for a YMCA conference."

Student Court Chief Justice Lischen Reeves said Travis is appealing the BEC's decision and that Student Court is meeting late Wednesday evening to decide if an oral appeal from Travis' slate will be allowed.

Travis said the BEC has mishandled the complaints brought against his slate.

“I think it’s clear what their (BEC) intentions are,” Travis said. “The BEC is trying to get us out of the election. This is voided due process — we were not given the chance to comment.”

The first infraction brought against Travis-Horan, which pertained to improper e-mail listserv use, came Monday and resulted in the loss of campaigning privileges for the slate.