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Tuesday, March 19
The Indiana Daily Student

Supreme Court rules REAL wins IUSA elections

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The IUSA Supreme Court has confirmed the election commission’s initial ruling that REAL for IUSA has won the election.

The Supreme Court heard an appeal Wednesday regarding the commission’s decision to deduct 21.4 percent of REAL for IUSA’s votes.

RISE for IUSA said REAL should be disqualified due to voting fraud. However, the Supreme Court ruled the commission’s original decision to deduct those votes was correct.

The court ruled the commission committed a clear error when they failed to ask for further evidence from REAL. After receiving screenshots of a REAL GroupMe from a RISE member, the commission should have asked REAL for the entire GroupMe conversation, the court ruled.

Although they did not obtain that evidence, the evidence the commission had didn’t show REAL intended to mislead.

Therefore, the court agreed with all complaint decisions and vote deductions issued by the commission.

Chief Justice Owen Hoepfner said he was happy all three parties got the chance to argue their case at the hearing.

“As a court, no party came out glistening,” Hoepfner said. “There were weak parts in every argument.”

The official opinion, used to set precedent, will be released within the week.

This story will be updated.

Laurel Demkovich

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