By Emily Wunderlich and Whitney Elfstrom
Student Government’s supreme court unanimously decided Monday that it would not take Mariah McQueen’s case against the election rules commission.
Now student body presidential candidate Kaeden Kelso will run unopposed in the upcoming election. He will need one more vote than 50 percent approval to assume the presidency.
McQueen revealed in an email last week that Kelso’s running mate Ysatis Jordan was one of the people to file an allegation against McQueen, resulting in her disqualification one week before the campaign.
Following the commission’s decision, McQueen appealed her case to the court, sighting the way that the commission handled the meeting that rendered her disqualified.
McQueen said that the commission violated its own rules in three ways: by not reading her statement in the meeting, not sending her copies of the grievances before the meeting and not notifying her within 24 hours of the alleged offense.
Shannon Scanlon, supervisor of elections, requested that the supreme court “throw out” McQueen’s request for trial because “the ERC did not break any rules.”
Under SG law, the commission has 24 hours to notify a candidate of a grievance filed against them. McQueen said that she was not alerted about the grievances until 27 hours after they were filed.
When asked by the court what time the allegations against McQueen were filed, Scanlon said Feb. 9 at 4:49 p.m. However, in an interview with The Crow’s Nest on Feb. 15, Scanlon said the allegations were filed on Feb. 8 at 4:49 p.m.
Scanlon notified McQueen of the allegations Feb 9 at 7:48 p.m.
After an hour and a half of private deliberation, the court denied McQueen’s case, as she held “no standing” for trial because she did not qualify as a candidate for election.
“It’s saddening that they couldn’t even take a case where they could’ve had time to even think about it,” McQueen said. “So they basically denied me due process again and justice was not served.”
To be eligible to run for office, students must submit an official campaign packet that includes at least 100 signatures, a declaration of intent and a Buckley waiver that authorizes the release of the candidate’s records, including their GPA, academic standing, major and confirmation of enrollment at USF St. Petersburg.
Because McQueen’s campaign packet was never certified by the commission due to her “illegally” obtaining signatures, student body president David Thompson — who also acted as Scanlon’s legal counsel — said she was “never eligible for the rights she is claiming (were) violated.”
According to an SG rule, the attorney general is supposed to represent SG and its executive branch in the supreme court.
However, since attorney general Marion Nuraj offered his legal opinion to McQueen prior to the meeting, the court decided that he would represent McQueen.
“I was also surprised by the statement that David Thompson gave. I did not expect that from him, especially someone who represents Student Government as a whole,” McQueen said.
Samantha Fiore, McQueen’s running mate, did not file the court case with McQueen, nor did she vote as a supreme court associate justice, as it would have been a conflict of interest.
McQueen said her next step is to take her case to Patricia Helton, regional vice chancellor of Student Affairs.
To get up to speed on the developments, here is a list of The Crow’s Nest coverage so far:
Feb. 12: SG presidential candidate disqualified a week before campaign
Feb. 13: McQueen: ER verdict is a ‘witch hunt’
Feb. 19: Confusion and controversy: spring election divides SG
Header photo courtesy of USFSP
