After originally informing Laura Saavedra Forero that she did not receive enough signatures to qualify as an official candidate for student body president, the UNC Board of Elections reversed its decision late Monday evening to include her on the ballot.
The BOE requires candidates for SBP to receive 1,000 verified signatures to qualify for the official ballot. Initially, Saavedra Forero said the UNC BOE told her she would not be certified as an official candidate on the ballot because she was four signatures short. Saavedra Forero decided to continue her campaign as a write-in candidate.
According to the BOE, the technology used to check PIDs and count signatures malfunctioned because of commas in the signatures that Saavedra Forero collected.
"After numerous days of recalculations and employing various methods, the Board of Elections has conclusively determined that Laura Saavedra Forero did meet the required number of signatures to appear on the ballot," the UNC BOE said in a statement on Tuesday morning. "It is important to acknowledge that our systems, while advanced, may not be infallible, and we are committed to rectifying any errors brought to our attention."
Saavedra Forero said that, while collecting signatures on paper from students, she uploaded the signatures into an Excel spreadsheet each day and sent them to the BOE.
“We never received updates on those counts until I received a message, I believe it was Feb. 1, saying I had not met the quota,” she said.
Monday's update comes after junior Matthew Tweden filed a lawsuit against the UNC BOE and its acting Chair Sophie van Duin on Thursday. Tweden collected 26 signatures at the time of the initial deadline for candidacy on the 2024-25 Undergraduate Student Senate.
The suit claimed the UNC BOE had unclear petitioning protocol and did not provide him with signature information in a timely manner. The lawsuit initially included SBP candidate Jaleah Taylor, but she withdrew her name on Saturday after she was certified as the sole SBP candidate.
Tweden filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on Monday before the decision was made to allow Saavedra Forero on the ballot.