Below are three statements provided to the AS Review regarding the election grievances filed by Abdul Malik-Ford. Of the nine brought forward by Ford, these three were decided and acted on by the Associated Students Elections Board.
Lani DeFiesta – AS President-Elect
“The grievance filed against me pertained to sharing Anne Lee, VP of Student Life, endorsement on my Instagram story. While I did not know sharing an AS Employee’s endorsement broke the elections code, I am grateful for the process in place to hold elected officials accountable for their actions. Next year will be imperative, in terms of discussing the election code. It will also be great that the Senate can be involved next year in looking over and voting the election code into practice.”
Grace Drechsel – AS VP for Governmental Affairs-Elect
“A grievance was filed against me for sharing a screenshot of Anne Lee’s, sitting VP for Student Life’s, endorsement. I was not aware at the time of posting that sharing the endorsement would be a violation of the Election Code. I appreciate that this issue was brought to my attention and that mechanisms such as the Elections Board exist to hold elected officials accountable. I also believe that the confusion surrounding the code points to a need for it to be more clear and accessible to both candidates and students-at-large. I am looking forward to working to make these improvements in my role as the ASVP for Governmental Affairs.”
Trevor Mullins – AS VP for Sustainability-Elect
“The grievance filed against me pertained to sharing an endorsement from the current VP for Student Life, Anne Lee, on my Instagram during elections week. While I was familiar with the AS Elections code, it was not clear by sharing their endorsement I was breaking election code. I am grateful a process exists within the Associate Students to hold those involved in elections accountable for their actions. I am excited to begin my role in this position as ASVP for Sustainability and work to ensure that various perspectives and opinions are heard when assessing and editing election codes annually for clarity and accountability.”