Due to what former presidential candidate Josh Lawson believes
was unfair treatment during the Undergraduate Students Association
Council elections, he filed a case against the Elections Board on
Monday to the council’s Judicial Board about sanctions made
against Lawson’s slate.
The case was filed because candidates belonging to
Lawson’s slate, the Equal Access Coalition, did not receive
the same treatment from the E-Board as other candidates did, said
Lawson, who did not garner enough votes to win the runoff elections
last week.
For example, Lawson alleges the Equal Access Coalition received
a sanction for presenting campaign materials at a Nation 2 Nation
table on Bruin Walk, while Students First! candidates did not
receive any punishment for similar use of a table sponsored by the
Association of Chinese Americans, Lawson wrote in a petition he
filed to the Judicial Board.
The goal of the case is to “bring accountability to the
Elections Board” and ensure that candidates in the future
elections do not receive unfair sanctions, Lawson said.
Other Equal Access Coalition candidates experienced similar
treatment, said Andrew Green, former candidate for general
representative who did not win the seat.
“I believe the treatment was different for different
slates. … It wasn’t fair,” Green said.
But president-elect Allende Palma/Saracho said he does not
believe Lawson’s complaint is valid.
“I believe the sanctions that he got were the ones he
deserved. We were equally sanctioned as well,” Palma/Saracho
said, adding that he saw the case as an immature response to losing
the elections.
But, Lawson said, the purpose is not to overturn the elections,
and the remedy and course of action will be left to the discretion
of the Judicial Board.