Associated Student Government officers for 2013-2014 were appointed from within the forer officers on May 20.
\nThe ASG election results have been voided because the list of candidates was not approved by San Jose City College\u2019s administration.
\nInterim Director of Student Affairs Elizabeth Eckford said it was an overlooked key step because Vice President of Student Services Marie-Elaine Burns needed to approve the candidates, and the paperwork was never passed to her.
\nAccording to Article 16, Section 1, Clause 2, an official list of candidates shall be completed and publicized at a minimum of two weeks prior to the election pending the approval of the Vice President of Student Services at SJCC.
\nASG Chief Justice Alex Ward was appointed as interim ASG president until a re-election is held in the fall to elect a new president and trustee together, said Director of Legislative Affairs Charles<\/p>\n
Stevens, 39, communications major.
\nThe election in its entirety was determined to be void for the sole reason that certain procedures were not followed according to the ASG constitution bylaws, said ASG Commissioner of Elections and Recommendations Ahdilah Haswarey, 20, public health policy major.
\nSome students were disqualified for not meeting the requirements mandated in Article 16 of the ASG Constitution Bylaws, said Eckford.
\nDirector of Public Relations candidate Allan Perez, 20, communications major, said he was disqualified due to his absence in attending one of the two candidate workshops that were held prior to nominations.
\n\u201cIt states in the (ASG) Constitution that the process of attending the workshops, of verifying the signatures … all these things qualify a candidate pending the approval of the vice president of student affairs,\u201d said Eckford.
\nPerez said Eckford took him and Presidential Candidate Bihama Vedaste, 23, liberal arts major, into her office on May 3 to tell them they were both disqualified for missing the candidate workshops.
\n\u201cI questioned their move as it contradicted what was already discussed in the council,\u201d Vedaste said. \u201cAnd it was unconstitutional.\u201d
\nVedaste said he spoke to Burns after being disqualified and was told by her that she never saw the list of candidates.
\nVedaste said he disagreed with Burns admission of not seeing the list of candidates as he believed that she must have seen it before the campaigning period began and that he should have been disqualified at the time.
\nSince proper procedures were not followed, Eckford and Burns decided to nullify the election, Eckford said.
\nVedaste said he spoke to former president Barbara Kavalier about the situation, and she acknowledged that something was done wrong and the elections should be canceled.
\nThe new ASG constitution, with changes on various articles, was just approved by the Board of Trustees in April and held some unfamiliar bylaws, Eckford said.
\nEckford said the constitution had to be in place before the ASG elections started, causing the ASG elections to start later in April compared to previous years.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t want anyone to feel as if effort was wasted because this is a learning experience and can lend an example on what to do and what not to do for next year\u2019s election,\u201d Haswarey said.
\nBased on a discussion between ASG Director of Legislative Affairs Charles Stevens and ASG Chief Justice Alex Ward, they did not want the ASG to be empty for the start of the fall semester, Perez said.
\n\u201cIf no one is here,\u201d said Perez, \u201cno clubs can do anything; nothing can (get done).\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Associated Student Government officers for 2013-2014 were appointed from within the forer officers on May 20. The ASG election results have been voided because the list of candidates was not approved by San Jose City College\u2019s administration. Interim Director of Student Affairs Elizabeth Eckford said it was an overlooked key step because Vice President of…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":88889,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"staff_name":[616],"class_list":["post-8670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-life","staff_name-astrid-caballero"],"yoast_head":"\n