ASUOP: Days of our Student Government
When does this ride end?
Well, that was interesting. Another casual ASUOP election, another controversy. What else is new? The election results were published on the 25th of March after some last-minute maneuvering behind the scenes. What resulted? Well, see for yourself:
Current College of the Pacific Senator Nadia Rana and Umayma Moshin won the most votes, garnering a total of 190 souls. Katherine Moreno and Simon Hinmon on the other hand? They managed to scrape together 169 votes. Collectively, the two tickets received 369 votes. In other words, the top two candidates garnered a turnout of 6%. That's the lowest turnout for an ASUOP election in six years.
Turnout in ASUOP elections was relatively high prior to 2018 but has been on average declining since then. Interestingly, this decline in student participation began during the reign of former ASUOP President Grant Kirkpatrick. Mr. Kirkpatrick almost single-handedly re-wrote the bylaws and constitution into what they are today. Given all the controversy and problems that have been generated by those bylaws, one must ask if the bylaws themselves are the cause of this precipitous drop in participation.
Turnout in ASUOP elections was relatively high prior to 2018 but has been on average declining since then. Interestingly, this decline in student participation began during the reign of former ASUOP President Grant Kirkpatrick. Mr. Kirkpatrick almost single-handedly re-wrote the bylaws and constitution into what they are today. Given all the controversy and problems that have been generated by those bylaws, one must ask if the bylaws themselves are the cause of this precipitous drop in participation.
Regardless, the lack of student engagement with our elections was not particularly surprising given recent trends. The real shocker of this election cycle was that the top vote earners, Nadia and Umayma, did not win the election. Why, you may ask? Well, in a last-minute twist, they dropped out of the race completely.
Why, you may ask (yet again)? Well, that depends on who you ask. Some say Nadia dropped out of the race to “avoid the toxicity that is ASUOP.” While others claim she dropped out to avoid a pending ASUOP Supreme Court hearing that was all but assured to overrule the outcome of the Case 5 Controversy.
As a refresher, Katherine and Simon presented photographic evidence and witnesses as proof to the Elections Committee, where they alleged that Nadia and Umayma campaigned outside of the campaigning period. Nadia and Umayma counter-alleged that Katherine and Simon’s team, as well as their witnesses, had made everything up, possibly with the assistance of AI or Photoshop. The Interim Elections Coordinator, Ibrahim Tahir, and the Elections Committee ultimately sided with Nadia and Umayma, effectively endorsing their allegations.
This outcome stands in spite of the fact that the evidence produced by Katherine and Simon was identical in quality to the evidence filed by Ibrahim himself in a separate complaint against senatorial candidate Junaid Ahmed. Indeed, Junaid was found guilty of the exact same violation that Nadia and Umaya were found not guilty of: campaigning outside of the campaign period. The only discernible difference between the two is the originator of the evidence.
So now what? Well, there was a new and separate Supreme Court filed against Nadia Rana, by Simon and Katherine’s campaign manager, Ronald Rossi. This complaint alleged that Nadia Rana “deleted evidence and intentionally misled the elections committee.” In effect, Ronald alleged that Nadia violated the ASUOP Bylaws by committing fraud. The Supreme Court of ASUOP agreed with Ronald’s arguments and voted to recommend the impeachment of Nadia to the ASUOP Senate, ruling that her status as a candidate did not absolve her of her duty to follow the ASUOP Bylaws that govern all ASUOP Officers, including sitting senators. But, in yet another twist, Nadia resigned from her position as COP Senator before Supreme Court Chief Justice Ainsley Berryhill could recommend her impeachment to the Senate (here I would provide access to the Senate’s meeting minutes but they revoked my access to the ASUOP Google Drive and they have yet to upload those minutes to the ASUOP website as is required in the bylaws and the constitution).
Tune in next time on ‘Days of our Student Government’ to find out what happens next.