“Be it resolved, SRC declares the presidential and senator results from the General Election 2022 null and moves to hold a revote for these positions.”
This was a result of the last Student Representative Council meeting this Tuesday, March 15th. After the approval of the budget, ASU President Georgia Saleski proposed a rerun of the presidential race as an alternative to establishing an elections appeals committee. The council deliberated on these options for a while before passing the resolution above. The details regarding elections officials, campaigning/voting periods, and participants are yet to be ratified but it was indicated that only those who ran in the general election would be eligible to run in the revote if they so choose. Campaigning periods will likely be shortened as a result.
One notable comment from Vice President of Academics and the External Megan Cyr expressed her support of SRC members in light the way that SRC had been harassed and insulted in the past weeks. She clarified that this decision was not in any way influenced by the “bullying” and “intimidation” at the March 8th meeting. Cyr was referring to the written insults directed at SRC members in the chat of the last meeting, as well as presidential candidate Max Abu-Laban making rude gestures at council by way of exit. Cyr also emphasized that a rerun was being considered simply because it held merit as a way of resolving the issues surrounding the election and SRC is attempting to solve these in the most equitable manner.
The revote for the senator positions was called for on the basis of a technical error in the voting system that enabled students from all faculties to vote for faculty-specific senators.
Also discussed at the meeting was the concern of students no feeling adequately heard at council. As such, suggestions were made as to how this could be rectified. These suggestions will be fleshed out in committees and brought to council at the next meeting.
I’m glad we are having a re-election. This was evidently the best course of action all along, and it took an immense amount of student pressure to make it happen. Within the ASU, the SRC and especially Georgia deserve credit for courageously acting on behalf of the students.
This article lacks context. On March 8th, two private consultants were called into this meeting to silence dissent. In the meeting, 65 students were kept muted on Zoom for an hour and a half because they had questions about an illegitimate election. It was profoundly anti-democratic, and left many students in shock. How would you would have felt?
My frustrations came from students feeling alienated and being silenced, which is a valid thing to be frustrated about. Looking back, I would have done things differently, but the main takeaway for students should be that collective action works. If nobody had said anything, this would have gone to a third-party committee as was proposed on March 8th. Holding your political representatives to account when they are not acting on behalf of you is not bullying.
Thanks to all the students that came out and made your voices heard! None of this would have happened without you, and don’t be fooled into thinking otherwise. I look forward to a fair and democratic re-election for students and everyone involved.