Three USG elections will be re-conducted after being declared compromised, the Associated Students of ASU Elections Department announced Wednesday.
New elections for the USG Downtown executive ticket, the USG Tempe Senate seat for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the USG West Valley Senate seat for the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences will take place from April 9 at 12 a.m. until April 10 at 11:59 p.m.
Students eligible to vote in the first election will be eligible to vote again.
USGD executive election
The USGD executive election will be re-run following accusations of bribery against the Katie Ritchie ticket and misconduct by the Elections Department.
According to a USG Supreme Court decision, the Elections Department ruled Ritchie's ticket had bribed students in the Kinesiology Honors Society, with the club offering "general credit" incentives to members who attended a tabling event for Ritchie's ticket.
The ruling disqualified Ritchie's ticket from the election, according to the court decision.
Ritchie then filed with the USG Supreme Court to appeal the ruling on April 1, according to the decision. The court found Ritchie's disqualification invalid because Ritchie was informed of it two days too late.
The court did, however, find that Ritchie and the Kinesiology Honor Society's actions constituted bribery.
Ritchie also submitted an appeal of another Elections Department ruling on April 2, which found her to have campaigned in an official residential dorm group chat. In a decision, the USG Supreme Court ruled in favor of Ritchie, determining the messages were not sent by a member of Ritchie's campaign.
Four more complaints were also made by Ritchie on April 1 regarding the conduct of USGD Elections Commissioner Kaneeshka Jakkula, according to a third court decision. The cases were thrown out based on the first decision.
Jakkula did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
READ MORE: Meet the tickets for the USG Downtown executive election
In a written statement, Ritchie said her campaign respects the decision and role of the court.
"The Court determined that the Elections Commission mishandled the election, including but not limited to failing to address reported violations within the required 48-hour window," Ritchie said in the statement.
Ritchie said her campaign recognizes the challenges a re-run may pose and stressed her commitment to ensuring all students have access to USGD elections.
She said her platform has not changed and encouraged students to vote in the re-run.
In response to the bribery accusation, Ritchie said in a statement that she disagreed that the opportunity for Kinesiology Honor Society members to get credit for attending the tabling event constituted bribery.
"Opportunities like this are consistent with standard practices across many clubs and student organizations," Ritchie said.
In addition, Ritchie said in the statement that no club members used the opportunity for club credit. She also criticized the vagueness of the bribery prohibition that was cited against her ticket.
"Section 12.15 of the elections code prohibits monetary, material, or social incentives of 'substantial value,' yet the ASASU Elections Department did not and has not defined what qualifies as 'substantial value' in this context," Ritchie said in the statement.
USGT College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Senate seat election
On March 30, the Elections Department ruled USGT Senate candidate Todd Thomas ineligible for the seat he was running for due to his college, according to a USG Supreme Court decision. Thomas submitted an appeal of this ruling to the court on March 31, in which he requested to be reinstated as an eligible candidate.
On April 6, the court filed a decision upholding the Elections Department's ruling that Thomas was ineligible for the seat he ran for. However, the ruling called for a new election due to the untimeliness of the decision.
Thomas will be able to run for a seat he is eligible for.
Thomas and USGT Elections Commissioner Jaiden Bigney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
USGWV New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Senate seat election
On March 23, USGWV Senate candidate Matison Hayes filed an appeal with the USG Supreme Court against USGWV Elections Commissioner Nolan Thresher, alleging they were not invited to a Senate candidate debate, according to a decision.
On March 25, the court ruled that Hayes should not be penalized for their absence at the debate and encouraged USGWV to hold a new debate to "uphold all fairness."
Hayes declined to comment. Thresher did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This story is developing and may be updated.
Edited by Carsten Oyer, Jack McCarthy, Sophia Braccio and Pippa Fung.
Reach the reporter at spkeelin@asu.edu.
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