2008 Woodie Awards
Robo removed from AS election
Derek Lactaoen
Issue date: 4/30/08 Section: Campus
Student Affairs Vice President Steven Butler announced in a letter on Wednesday, April 23 that presidential candidate Jason Robo was ineligible to run for office.
A hearing last Monday, April 21 put Robo on disciplinary probation for inappropriate use of Associated Students computers, something Robo denies doing. Robo said that he was accused of downloading an Adobe product and others who found out about the download called Robo to the hearing over the matter.
Butler's letter came halfway through the election and stated that, due to this disciplinary probation, Robo cannot hold any office for the time being. This disqualified all votes cast for him during the election.
In the letter to Elections Commissioner Keith Lambert, Butler said that Robo was out of compliance with the minimum academic qualifications for student office holders. Butler referenced Executive Memorandum P07-01, which states that an office holder must not be on probation of any kind, among other qualifications.
On Friday, April 25, the Elections Commission met and, in the presence of Butler and Robo, decided to rerun the general elections for president. This election will include Luke Ferrari, Crystal Chaney and write-in candidate Sofia Pereira. All other office winners were made official at the meeting.
This new presidential election will start on Tuesday, April 29 and end Thursday, May 1. If there is still no clear majority after that, there will be a runoff vote the week after.
It should be understood that the Elections Commission had no part in determining that Robo was ineligible; its role was to decide what to do with the election after discovering that Robo was on disciplinary probation.
Wildlife management senior Tyler Smith, a committee member of the Elections Commission, said, "Students need the chance to vote for the proper candidate, and I didn't feel it was fair for Sofia Pereira who was close to third. Who knows how many votes she would have gotten?"
A hearing last Monday, April 21 put Robo on disciplinary probation for inappropriate use of Associated Students computers, something Robo denies doing. Robo said that he was accused of downloading an Adobe product and others who found out about the download called Robo to the hearing over the matter.
Butler's letter came halfway through the election and stated that, due to this disciplinary probation, Robo cannot hold any office for the time being. This disqualified all votes cast for him during the election.
In the letter to Elections Commissioner Keith Lambert, Butler said that Robo was out of compliance with the minimum academic qualifications for student office holders. Butler referenced Executive Memorandum P07-01, which states that an office holder must not be on probation of any kind, among other qualifications.
On Friday, April 25, the Elections Commission met and, in the presence of Butler and Robo, decided to rerun the general elections for president. This election will include Luke Ferrari, Crystal Chaney and write-in candidate Sofia Pereira. All other office winners were made official at the meeting.
This new presidential election will start on Tuesday, April 29 and end Thursday, May 1. If there is still no clear majority after that, there will be a runoff vote the week after.
It should be understood that the Elections Commission had no part in determining that Robo was ineligible; its role was to decide what to do with the election after discovering that Robo was on disciplinary probation.
Wildlife management senior Tyler Smith, a committee member of the Elections Commission, said, "Students need the chance to vote for the proper candidate, and I didn't feel it was fair for Sofia Pereira who was close to third. Who knows how many votes she would have gotten?"
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 4
Be informed
posted 5/01/08 @ 12:11 PM PST
This article is incomplete. No information was given on how a hearing could be called, who else was in attendance, and exactly what the allegations were. (Continued…)
Bret Comnes
Bret
posted 5/03/08 @ 11:48 AM PST
Who can be held accountable? I mean, if Jason Robo did not download the files can he be held responsible? No laws were broken, since the license agreement of the software was never breached by means of a fake serial key or crack. (Continued…)
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