One week after the preliminary results for IU Student Government’s presidential election were scheduled to be announced, 19 complaints have been submitted against the FUSE and UNITED campaigns.
It is not clear when the election results may be announced.
Alida Flores, the press secretary for the IUSG told the IDS that several complaints have slowed down the confirmation of the election results; however, the election manager responsible for reviewing the complaints has not confirmed the reason for the delay. Members of the FUSE and UNITED campaigns have submitted at least 17 of the complaints. Dylan Schutte, who is running for student body president of the UNITED campaign, submitted seven of them, and Cooper Tinsley, who is running for president of the FUSE campaign, submitted five.
No complaints have been filed against the two other presidential tickets, Unite and NEXUS.
The reasons for the complaints vary significantly, from UNITED accusing FUSE of defacing campaign materials, by pouring water on UNITED’s campaign messages in chalk and covering UNITED’s campaign's paintings on the bridges on Eagleson Avenue to UNITED’s unconfirmed suspicion that the FUSE campaign was spending too much money on cookies.
FUSE accused UNITED of violating election policies related to technology, using a teaching assistant to pressure students in the class to vote for their ticket and lying and withholding evidence within their own complaints against FUSE.
Both campaigns received complaints that may be considered “Class A” violations, according to IUSG bylaws. Class A violations are the most serious, and can singlehandedly disqualify a campaign from holding office.
The complaints are publicly available in a folder in IUSG’s OneDrive. Several complaints are supported by evidence of hearsay conversations, screenshots of text messages and Instagram story posts, which are also in the folder.
“FUSE would like to thank the election commission for their thorough work in overseeing the electoral process,” the FUSE campaign said in a statement to the IDS. “Each complaint filed by FUSE was submitted in accordance with the governing bylaws and with the intention of ensuring a fair and just election. We reject any allegations that our actions were driven by hostility, intimidation, harassment, or an intention to defame our fellow candidates. We're beyond grateful for the student body's encouragement and active engagement throughout the entirety of our campaign. Our commitment to fostering an inclusive and supportive campus environment remains unwavering.”
“As investigations into complaints are still ongoing, we prefer not to comment on specifics regarding them,” the UNITED campaign said in a statement to the IDS. “We want the public to be assured that those running the election are working diligently behind the scenes to ensure results are made public as soon as possible. We want to thank the student body for their patience in this matter and all the support we have received so far.”
The student body president and vice president are scheduled to be sworn in on April 15, according to IUSG’s Campaign Guide.
In the most recent version of the IUSG bylaws, the election commission was replaced by the election manager.
According to IUSG bylaws, the Election Manager is responsible for investigating and ruling on any complaints issued during an election season. The manager’s rulings can disqualify candidates based on their findings. The IUSG election manager, Tasneem Alfadhl, has not responded to several requests for comment.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the IUSG election commission is responsible for overseeing elections.
