Lillian Humber Named ASG President After Tumultuous Election

Decision comes after an unsteady campaign process marked by election code violations and accusations

Lillian Humber was named 2023-2024 Associated Student Government (ASG) President on May 11, after the Judicial Branch overturned her disqualification by the Election Committee and upheld the disqualification of the opposing candidate, Zafir Chowdhury, who had received the majority of the student vote by a 10% margin.

The announcement of a winner, which was originally slated for May 5, was postponed after both sets of candidates were found guilty of multiple infractions of the ASG Election Code, leading to both their disqualifications by the Election Committee.

Chowdhury and running mate Courtney Bell argued that the Election Committee was illegitimately formed, because the committee members were appointed by the President rather than by a Student Senate super majority vote, a requirement outlined in section two of the Election Code.

The candidates appealed the Committee’s legitimacy, but this was rendered null by the Court because the appeal was not submitted within 24 hours of the Committee’s first decision, as stipulated in the section 3 of the code.

Chowdhury and Bell maintained that the formation was a direct violation of the ASG constitution and was representative of a lack of accountability throughout the election process.

“This remains a major transgression that all members of the Student Senate, including ourselves, should be held accountable for,” said Chowdhury and Bell on their Instagram campaign account. “The lack of transparency from ASG as an organization, both internally and externally, in providing clarity regarding this election to the Student Body has resulted in confusion and distrust.”

According to Student Body President Kevin Ham, time concerns prevented proper voting procedures, as ASG was in a rush to fill the committee before the start of the election information sessions. As a result, the chair and subsequent members were invited by the President to join the committee after approval from the chief justice and the ASG advisor.

“A verbal notification was made to the Senate a week prior to the election,” said Ham. “With no further objections from the Senate, the committee carried on with its duties with the following week being the start of the election.”

Humber and running mate Jenna Solis were alleged to have violated four sections of the Election Code, three of which were contested by the candidates. The three sections they appealed stipulated that (1) a candidate cannot campaign in the Learning Commons, (2) a candidate cannot pressure students to vote for a specific candidate and (3) candidates must submit a budget amount for anticipated campaign spending and not exceed that amount.

The fourth violation, which was not contested by Humber and Solis, stated that the candidates were in the presence of the students while they were voting.

The Student Court overturned the violation decisions for the first two sections, citing an insufficient amount of evidence.

Section three of the Election Code stipulates that once two violations are committed, the candidate is automatically disqualified if a third violation is ruled. Each unique rule broken counts as a violation regardless of the number of times that rule is broken, according to Student Body President Kevin Ham.

The Chowdhury-Bell ticket was disqualified for committing four violations of the Election Code, all of which the court upheld.

“Four members of the election committee, one chair and a student court consisting of five members ultimately made the decision to disqualify us, and it’s a frustrating experience,” said Bell. “We really wanted to be in that decision to serve the student body.”

The candidates were found by the Committee to have (1) exceeded the campaign spending limit for their budget, (2) pressured students to vote for a specific candidate on Election Day, (3) asked students to vote on their personal electronic devices while in the presence of the candidate, and (4) campaigned in the public computer lab on Election Day. Chowdhury and Bell appealed the first three violations.

Candidates are introduced to the Election Code prior to campaigning, and have the opportunity to gain clarity from ASG on how to understand it.

“If candidates are unclear on how to interpret any part of the Election Code, they have outlets –whether through the Election Committee or me as the ASG advisor–to ask questions so they can learn and gain the clarity they need,” said Tedd Vanadilok, the advisor to ASG. “Many candidates do in fact ask me such clarifying questions every election cycle.”

To circumvent any confusion over ASG documentation, Bell is pushing for a consistent reeducation of the Constitution among Senators while they serve their positions, stating that this should be a requirement for elected members to properly understand the inner workings of the organization.

“It’s not right for someone to get that position and just start working and disregard some of the key foundational aspects of the organization that would permit them to fulfill their position to the fullest,” said Bell. “And that’s being well-versed on the Constitution and Bylaws.”

She argues that future elections should ensure a well-structured committee, which would allow ASG to handle these election processes in a more responsible manner.

“The very first step that we need to very much focus on is making sure that the election committee we do choose is vetted properly,” said Bell. “And that is by making sure we do get the Senate in favor of the nominees.”

A traditional Committee consists of a chair filled by the student vice president and four members selected by the chair. Members are not allowed to run for office nor serve on ASG the following year, cannot support candidates, and are typically seniors.

Humber and Solis declined to comment on this story. Mateo Coghlan, Chief Justice of the Judicial Branch, also declined to comment.