Student elections can't continue without new Board of Elections members

The fate of spring elections rides upon when the UNC Board of Elections has enough members.

Student Body President Bradley Opere must appoint at least two and at most four provisional members for the BOE to certify signatures, hold hearings and create an election timeline.

BOE chairperson Paul Kushner said they want elections to run smoothly.

“The fact that this one has been paused does not sit well with me,” he said.

Due to the UNC Student Supreme Court decision, the BOE will hold another hearing against the Joe Nail for SBP campaign once they have enough members to decide if they should discipline or disqualify Nail from the race.

BOE membership

Nail appealed the original complaint against his campaign because there were only three BOE members present — not a full board. When the case went to the Student Supreme Court, the court put an injunction on the BOE and elections until it had enough members.

“The plan right now is for Bradley to go ahead and provisionally appoint members before the end of the week so that elections could restart,” Cole Simons, speaker of Student Congress, said.

Simons said all student body president campaigning is on hold until the BOE has enough members.

Impeachment

Impeachment proceedings against Kushner — which were put on hold over a discrepancy in the Student Code — will most likely not affect upcoming elections, said Simons.

“What we discovered when we were looking at this bill (Tuesday) night was that in one portion of the code it says two people must aver and in another it says five,” Simons said.

Simons said the discrepancy can be resolved through new legislation.

Simons said Kushner will preside over elections because reopening the impeachment proceedings could not happen until the next general body meeting of Student Congress.

“I obviously disagree with a motion for my impeachment,” Kushner said. “I am glad that it was taken off, that it was pulled from Congress (Tuesday) night.”

Candidate responses

As of Thursday at 5 p.m., after ballot petitions are due, all campaigning must pause until the BOE has enough members to certify signatures.

Travis Broadhurst, a candidate, said he is not worried about the campaigning freeze.

“I think it is just more of a confusion to the limitations, but I think students in general have heard enough about elections at this point to where even stopping campaigning is not gonna affect their knowledge...” he said.

In a statement, Nail said they hope the BOE reaches quorum as soon as possible.

“My team and I are excited about participating in a fair and just election process that focuses on the issues that actually matter to students,” he said.

Matthew McKnight, a candidate, said though he doesn’t know what will happen he is really thankful for his team.

“On a personal level obviously uncertainty is never optimal but I’m really confident in the team that’s around me,” he said.

Elizabeth Adkins, a candidate, said it is a unique year because of the number of candidates and the freeze.

“I think it makes the process more stressful than it needs to be and it’s already a stressful process as it is,” she said.

Maurice Grier, a candidate, said after tomorrow he will be hoping for the best.

“I’ll try to look at (the freeze) as an opportunity to take a breath,” he said. “I don’t think a lot of campaigns have had that opportunity.”

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