More than a week after being disqualified, a Downtown presidential ticket has formally conceded, ending an attempt to have its disqualification reviewed by an outside judicial committee.
Disqualified candidate Andres Cano and running mate Vaughn Hillyard signed an agreement Monday along with President-elect Christian Vasquez and Vice President-elect Jessica Abercrombie, recognizing that a third-party review would not affect the outcome of the election and that the disqualification stands.
“The third-party review simply would have been an opinion,” Cano said.
The agreement also noted that the student leaders would work to implement changes to the Downtown elections code in the year to come.
Vasquez said one possibility that has been discussed is having an appeals process where candidates could present a case before the Downtown judicial board. However, the members of the judicial board would not be allowed to campaign, he said.
Vasquez served on the judicial board this semester, which presented a problem when the Downtown Election Committee considered giving Cano and Hillyard the opportunity to present a case before the board.
Cano and Hillyard were disqualified on April 8 after accumulating 11 penalty points for breaking the elections code. Nine points results in automatic disqualification.
The two candidates took issue with three of the penalty points that involved a campaign message sent to supporters on Facebook.
A staff member of the campaign sent out the message, which had not been approved by the election committee, supposedly by mistake.
Vasquez said the past week and a half of debate has taught him that students are passionate about campus elections, and he said he would not forget about Cano’s supporters.
“Jessica and I are going to work extra hard to gain the trust of students,” he said.
Reach the reporter at kjdaly@asu.edu
