Hearing Date: By written submission (received January 31, 2021)
Judgment Date: February 1, 2021
Panel: Zohaib Ahmed (Chair), Misha Apel, Alysia Sainas
Reasons for Judgment: Ahmed (Apel and Sainas concurring)
This is an appeal by Adam Shedeed in response to a decision by the Elections Governance Committee (“EGC) to remove his name from the list of candidates for an upcoming University Student Council (“USC”) election. The Elections Governance Committee Nominations Procedure (“Nominations Procedure”) governs the nomination process for USC elections. For some positions, the Nominations Procedure dictates that students who wish to run for those positions must remit a bond payment to the USC. Payment must occur in advance of starting one’s campaign. Failure to do so renders a prospective candidate ineligible. In the case at bar, the EGC removed the appellant’s name from the list of candidates as he failed to submit the bond payment prior to opening his campaign, rendering him ineligible to run for election. For the reasons below, the Appeals Board allows the appeal. Consequently, the Board orders the appellant’s name be added to the list of candidates with the condition that the appellant first pays his bond.
Read the full decision below…