SGASC Opinion: Cotton, Berger Reinstated

REPRESENTATIVES JOHN RODDY Pace and William Echols on left for Stovall; on right, representative Sean Buckley for Cotton.

Luke Cotton and Jill Berger have been reinstated as Student Body President and Vice-President of Internal Affairs for the Student Government Association, as ordered by the Texas Tech Student Government Association Supreme Court.

The vote was 4-2, with the seventh seat of the Court still empty.

A majority opinion rendered by Chief Justice Ralston Rollo — with Justices Michael Uryasz, Michelle Meyer, and Keith Scioli joining — commanded the Election Commission to reinstate the results of the original election for both the Presidential and Vice-President of Internal Affairs races, but since the violation of Section 7.31 of the Election Code (Logan Dickenson’s asking for eRaider information to vote on students’ behalf) was not appealed to the court, his disqualification still stands, and a new election for the Office of Vice President for External Affairs is ordered, in accordance with the Commission’s prescribed guidelines.

The dissenting opinion, issued by Justice Andrew Robertson and joined by Justice Tiffany Montemayor, claimed they did not “believe justice is best served by today’s decision.” The two wrote they would affirm the Election Commission’s decision in its entirety, including making an entirely new election a reality.

Both Rollo and Robertson wrote that full opinions will follow, but did not specify when.

With the injunction on campaigning lifted, the election ordered by the Election Commission is set to begin immediately. The election will proceed with voting occurring on March 20-21, with the results of the Vice President of External Affairs race to be announced March 22. With Logan Dickenson disqualified from running, however, the only other candidate is Bridge the Gap’s Peyton Craig.

This will create a two-to-two dichotomy in the SGA executive branch, with Raiders United candidates Cotton and Berger joining Bridge the Gap candidates Daniel Yates and Craig.

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