Student Senate to Release Statement on Election Nullification
The Student Senate is holding a special session tonight, April 17th to discuss the situation regarding the election nullification, and plans to release a statement sometime this week. The Trojan Times received an email from Vice President for Student Affairs, Marcus Garstecki regarding the nullification of Senator Brindley’s and Sultan’s win in the election. Garstecki explained that he was in contact with current Senate President, Sid Moorhead throughout the weekend as they discussed the situation. Garstecki said that the senate was “caught off guard” by the allegations and rumors that surfaced so quickly after their decision, and “want[s] to make sure [the statement is] presented accurately and fairly.” He added that the senate has “no intent to hide anything from the students,” and that
The Trojan Times was also able to get in contact with President Moorhead who was willing to answer a couple of the questions provided to him. The first question Moorhead answered regarded the meeting minutes from the night of the election which the senate has released on the DSU Student Senate Facebook page. He stated that “the nullification was voted on before the [election] results were presented.” Moorhead also stated that rumors regarding the nullification as a racial attack are “completely unfounded.”
According to the meeting minutes, the initial punishment for distributing campaign materials in the dorms, implemented prior to the election, for Brindley and Sultan was being unable to campaign on election day, with which the candidates complied. The Trojan Times continues to seek answers to why the original punishment was deemed not enough, and why the second punishment, much greater in severity, was passed. The meeting minutes also reveal a lack of briefing or training for candidates regarding campaign rules before the election cycle began. So, it is not certain if Brindley and Sultan originally knew that their actions were against policy. The Trojan Times once again questioned the severity of the punishment due to the lack of briefing prior to campaigning. President Moorhead did not yet respond to these questions, but further explanation may be revealed in the Senate’s coming statement.
South Dakota law prohibits county, municipal, and school officials from discussing or voting on issues in which they have a conflict of interest (Title 6-1-17, source: http://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/Codified_Laws/DisplayStatute.aspx?Type=Statute&Statute=6-1-17 ). The Student Senators involved in the ruling included several close friends of the other Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates. As such, it seems to me that there was a serious conflict of interest, if not outright sabotage, with Student Senate deciding to handle this issue themselves, overruling the Election Committee’s earlier acceptable punishment..
Why no update on the election results after the April 17 meeting?