Says Vasquez, Abercrombie should step down
The ASASUD Election Committee said they will not reverse their decision to disqualify the Cano/Hillyard ticket, and said they believe Vasquez/Abercrombie campaign should step down as president and vice-president-elects to enforce another election on Monday at the US Post Office.
Committee Chair Olga Lykhvar said freshmen Andres Cano and Vaughn Hillyard’s appeal will not be reviewed by a third party and said the Election Committee had final say in the decision.
“We are the deciding body,” she said, adding later: “There is no next level.”
Lykhvar also said all three Election Committee members believe Cano and Hillyard should have won the election, but said it would be up to junior Christian Vasquez and freshman Jessica Abercrombie to decide whether they will step down.
“We, all three of us, agree that Christian and Jessica do not deserve this seat,” she said. “They need to step down. We can’t make that decision for them. They have to make that decision on their own.”
Lykhvar said if the president and vice-president-elects stepped down, the Downtown campus would hold another election.
Though Vasquez and Abercrombie received more than 41 percent of the votes, they would have needed more than 51 percent in order to win office during the general election. Even so, Lykhvar said there won’t be an automatic runoff because Cano and Hillyard’s votes went to their opponents upon their disqualification.
“It doesn’t say it anywhere. It’s common sense,” Lykhvar said in response to an audience member asking what part of the Election Code says that votes are transferred after a disqualification.
“Had there been three candidates running … you guys would still be disqualified and there would be a runoff between the other two candidates, had there been candidates running,” she said.
Sophomore Sen. Abby Wischnia, an Election Committee member, said the current ASASUD Senate approved the Election Code unanimously and said next year’s Senate could change it.
“This year, this is how it is,” she said. “This is how it was set up, and it was voted in by the senators in this room.”
Sophomore Sen. Dustin Volz, a member of the Cano/Hillyard campaign, said Article 11.5 of the Election Code says the Election Committee shall dismiss minimal or trivial protests or protests that do not cause injury.
“This (infraction) in no way, in regards, should result in disqualification,” he said, adding that he believes the Election Committee has shown they don’t understand the Election Code.
Sophomore Sen. Amanda Cram, a member of the Election Committee, said the violation by Cano and Hillyard, in which they misstated nursing freshman senatorial candidate Sabrina Banegas’ college, did cause harm.
“Some (nursing students) may have not thought to vote for (Banegas) because they said that she was in the College of Public Programs,” Cram said. “She may have lost votes because of that.”
Following the meeting’s conclusion, Banegas, who was elected to represent the College of Nursing and Health Innovation, said she did not believe the Facebook message caused harm to her campaign.
“But it is up to the Election Committee,” said Banegas, a supporter of Cano and Hillyard. “I am not blaming them for what happened to the Andres campaign.”
Carlyn Shepp, a criminal justice freshman, said she understands that the Cano/Hillyard campaign gained nearly 59 percent of the vote and should have been elected, but said she doesn’t think it is fair for their supporters to blame the Election Committee.
“It’s your fault the students can’t now voice their opinions to you because you had the Election Code and you violated it,” Shepp said. “As small or as large as it may be, it’s ultimately your fault their voice isn’t heard.”
Contact the reporter at salvador.rodriguez@asu.edu
