Election appeals go to court

By Jewels Phraner

Published Nov. 27, 2007

The Missouri Students Association Student Court will decide today whether it will hold public hearings on three presidential election fines requested for appeal. As a result of the litigation, no slate has been declared a winner yet.

"We haven't decided whether there are going to be hearings or not," Chief Justice Drew Weber said. "The Student Court has discretion over whether or not we want to hear oral arguments, though we usually do."

If the court decides to hear the arguments, Webber said it would hear one case on Wednesday and two on Thursday.

The three requests for an appeal were filed on Nov. 13, two days before the results of the elections were to be announced. The Board of Election Commissioners filed nine fines against the two slates during the election. All three appeals involved complaints against the slate of Jim Kelley and Chelsea Johnson.

One complaint alleged Johnson, the former Budget Committee chairwoman, used her MSA mailbox early in the campaign. The Board of Elections Commissioners' Handbook states no MSA office or equipment can be used for the campaign.

But, according to the BEC case report, the complaint was filed a month after the incident occurred. This time frame is much later than the 24-hour statute of limitations for complaints, according to the BEC Handbook. Because of this, Kelley and Johnson were not sanctioned.

The second complaint alleged Johnson reserved tables used for campaigning under the MSA Budget Committee instead of under the BEC.

"This was a clear violation of the BEC Handbook," the BEC stated in its case report.

The Kelley/Johnson slate incurred an intermediate violation, which cost the slate two points and a $75 fine.

The final BEC decision under appeal relates to a complaint filed by current MSA Vice President Andrew Cafourek and Department of Student Activities Director Nick Trusty.

Photos submitted with the complaint were submitted to attempt to show that the Kelley/Johnson slate had more than 300 fliers posted on campus. The complaint stated that the slate's paperwork only accounted for 200 fliers.

After referencing three different forms, the BEC concluded that the slate had cited the cost of all is fliers, which goes toward its $1,000 campaign spending cap, but the candidates had forgotten to indicate the quantity of fliers on one form.

"We felt that this was an honest mistake, since the money was reported truthfully," the BEC case report stated.

It also stated the photos were "inconclusive." The slate was fined $25 for a minor violation and lost one point for the incomplete paperwork.

Although these three BEC decisions were requested for appeals, six other complaints were filed during the course of the election: three against the slate of Dustin Barker and Jessica Ekhoff and another three against Kelley and Johnson.

The BEC decided four of these six complaints required no sanction. Two of those were against Kelley and Johnson, and two were filed against Barker and Ekhoff.

The Barker/Ekhoff slate was the first slate in the campaign to receive a sanction. The slate lost two points for posting too many fliers on a bulletin board in Strickland Hall.

Kelley and Johnson lost one point after a complaint was filed that claimed the slate placed a banner in the courtyard of Conservation Hall without completing the proper form.

Although the slate had corresponded with the building coordinator via e-mail, the BEC case report stated e-mail correspondence is not sufficient enough permission.

Each slate needs at least one point of eight initial to continue to qualify for office. Due to the BEC decisions, Barker and Ekhoff have six points left and Kelley and Johnson have four points left. But the Student Court could overrule any decision made by the BEC in the appeal cases.

BEC Chairwoman Amanda Morlock said no more complaints can be filed at this time because the cutoff for filing complaints was three days after voting ended.