The Student Judicial Board recently released a report regarding its May 7 decision to deny the case De La Fuente v. UCLA Elections Board.
The Judicial Board denied petitioner Flavia De La Fuente’s claim against the Elections Board that the board did not issue proper sanctions in the case involving the Bruins United slate during this year’s undergraduate student government elections.
Irene Nguyen, chief justice of the Judicial Board, said that appeals to the board are meant to address flaws in the Elections Board investigation process, such as bias towards a certain candidate.
She added that the report was required to be written in accordance with Elections Board rules. All parties involved in the appeal were notified of the decision when it was made on May 7.
The Elections Board found certain Bruins United affiliates guilty of violating the Elections Code for attempting to coerce two students to vote for the Bruins United candidates in the Undergraduate Students Association Council election at a Hillel event on May 6, according to the report.
The Elections Board sanctioned the said affiliates from electioneering for a number of hours in the afternoon on the final day of the election, May 7. The Judicial Board ruled that such sanctions were adequate punishment for the violations by the Bruins United candidates.
The opinion states further that the petitioner’s claim that violations occurred on a larger scale beyond the two students is based on implication and cannot be considered.
The appeal was made because the petitioner felt the Elections Board delivered an inappropriate sanction, but failed to provide any new evidence of widespread coercive voting or of a flaw in the investigation process, Nguyen said.
This type of appeal does not fall within the jurisdiction of the Judicial Board, which considers cases dealing with bias in the Elections Board investigation process, rather than what the petitioner felt was an inappropriate punishment.
The Student Judicial Board recently released a report regarding its May 7 decision to deny the case De La Fuente v. UCLA Elections Board.