Judicial board reviews petition to reconsider disqualified candidate

The undergraduate student government judicial board has decided to review a petition from a student who claims the disqualification of a candidate violated the election code.

John Ulysses Keevan-Lynch petitioned the judicial board Tuesday, stating the disqualification of General Representative 3 Justin Jackson from this year’s Undergraduate Students Association Council election violated the equal protection clause of the code, according to the memorandum for the petitioner.

The election board disqualified Jackson, who was running for internal vice president, from running in this year’s election for turning in a candidate application form late. Jackson turned in his filing forms 13 minutes after the April 6 noon deadline, said USAC Election Board Chair Jack Price.

The judicial board also issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday, forcing the council to table the vote to approve the election ballot.

Nicholas Yu, chief justice of the judicial board and a former Daily Bruin staffer, said the board decided to issue the preliminary injunction to provide a fair election for Jackson if they rule in his favor.

“There are several events happening this week, such as releasing candidate statements,” Yu said. “If we do rule in favor of the petitioner and find (Jackson) eligible as a candidate, then he would miss out on that and disadvantage his right to a fair election.”

Yu said that, depending on the judicial board’s verdict, the council will need to amend or keep the initial ballot and vote on it during next week’s USAC meeting.

This is the first petition the judicial board has accepted to review this year, and will have a preliminary hearing and court of hearing.

The hearings will take place Friday at 6 p.m. While the preliminary hearing will be closed, the court of hearing will be open to the public. The location of the hearing is still to be determined.