The
Minnesota State University Mankato
www.msureporter.com
TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017
Student Senate election postponed amidst rule violations President Rayani comments, de Ruiter enters formerly uncontested election.
LUKE LARSON Staff Writer The MNSU student senate election which was scheduled to take place today has been rescheduled for April 25. Last Friday, all MNSU students were notified via email of this and other significant changes to the election process. The email noted that students interested in running for President, Vice President, Senator, or a spot in a handful of related boards and commissions may file for candidacy any time between now and Monday, April 17. A presidential and vice presidential debate will take place at noon on Wednesday, April 19. The MSSA Elections Commission declined to comment on the reasoning behind the change when contacted by the Reporter on Sunday. The Commission later produced a letter to the editor which was shared
with the Reporter through President Rayani and can be seen below. President Rayani supports the Elections Commission’s decision. “After much deliberation and reflection on our election rules and guidelines, the Elections Commission has found that they were in violation of a couple of rules that they had outlined and presented to senate,” he says. He adds that “the Elections Commission’s way of repairing these mishaps is by extending the deadline and doing all the things they were supposed to do and, in that way, everyone has an equal opportunity and a level playing field.” Regarding for mer presidential candidate Aaron Eberhart’s letter to the editor in last Thursday’s edition of the Reporter which implied MSSA election unfairness, President Rayani said that he objects to much of the tone and content of the piece. He especially disagrees with Eberhart’s characterization of residence hall campaigning rules as discriminatory. He says that such rules are not
under the jurisdiction of student senate and that he supports the residence halls’ ability to restrict who they allow in. Eberhart wrote that appointments were made late, but Rayani affirms that all but one of the Elections Commission positions were appointed no later than Feb. 15, which he believes was timely. He added that while he cannot speak into issues regarding Eberhart’s personal interactions with MSSA and the Elections Commission, he trusts Dr. Jones and MSSA Advisor John Bulcock, both of whom were mentioned by Eberhart. Despite his disagreements, Rayani believes that Eberhart raised a valid concern in pointing out two ways that the Elections Commission violated Article III of the MSSA Spring Election Rules. He agrees that the following parts of the rules were not followed: 1) “The Elections Commission shall distribute posters advertising upcoming elections and candidacy filing procedures” and 2) “The Elections Commission shall work with the Office of Student Affairs to distribute an all-student
email advertising upcoming elections and candidacy filing procedures.” These are the reasons, he says, that the decision was made to postpone the election. He adds that another reason was that the election rules and guidelines were not updated on the MSSA webpage. Rayani makes clear that he is not at all involved with the Elections Commission decision-making process. He adds, however, that these issues are by no means unique to this particular election. “These issues happen every year because no Elections Commission is perfect. There is always going to be a little mishap and when I ran, there were many mishaps, as well. It is a good thing that we are aware of these mishaps and that the Elections Commission has worked to repair them.” In his letter to the editor, Eberhart noted that these violations especially disadvantaged him and his Accountability Party because neither he nor any members of the party were previously involved in student senate. When asked whether
Eberhart’s letter to the editor caused the Elections Commission’s decision, President Rayani said that he does not know. Rayani is very strong in affirming that “there’s been no preferences and there’s been no corruption.” He notes that he and Vice President Ruiz “wanted [Eberhart] to have the same opportunities that anyone else has.” Vice President Maria Ruiz says that “our main priority right now is to amend the mistake that was made in not sending the all-student email and the posters, and to reinforce students that there is no corruption going on in MSSA. The Elections Commission is an independent commission which does not report back to us. MSSA president Faical and I have tried to work with all parties involved and with the different commissions in efforts to have a fair election.” President Rayani objected to the Reporter’s wording of the title of Aaron’s letter to
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Letter to the Editor: Elections Commission addresses election postponement Dear Editor, Based on thorough discussion and review of concerns raised about the election including the commission’s lack of follow through on rules deemed to have the ability to substantially affect the election, specifically those rules requiring the posting of election candidacy procedures, the commission has voted and decided to revise the election timeframe and rules. We believe that
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this is in the best interest of all involved. It provides greater openness and an opportunity to spread awareness to more students. The timeline and rules for the Spring 2017 election has changed. • April 6th- revised election timeframe and rules approved by election commission • April 7th- candidacy application reopened • April 17th- Filing deadline for any and all candidates for any position
• A p r i l 19 t h Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate forum/debate at noon in the CSU hearth lounge • April 25th- Election Day from 8am to 6pm online at www.mnsu.edu/ voting Election timeline and rules are available online at http://www.mnsu.edu/ mssa/involved/election.html In regards to other concerns raised, I have provided brief explanations below: The posting of the
2014 Election Rules was an error that the Elections Commission was unaware of. Since finding out, the commission has removed said rules. The 2017 Election Rules were presented to the MSSA on March 1st and posted online on March 2nd. No candidate had access to them before any other candidate. Policies for campaigning in Residential Life owned facilities are set by the Department of Residential Life. These policies are then
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shared with the Election Commission but the commission does not set them. Election season is very important to students and to the University as a whole. We hope to see interested student leaders step forward to represent their fellow students. Regards, Connor Martin Head Elections Commissioner
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