Election Drama Ain’t Over

The UBC AMS election has come and gone and it’s a big congratulations to Johannes Rebane (Yay), Tim Chu, Crystal Hon, Tom Dvorak, Bijan Ahmadian, Michael Duncan and the Student Legal Fund Society and Voter-funded Media winners.

Now you may be wondering why Blake Frederick, the new President-elect who won by 43 votes, is not included in my congrats list. Turns out, HE HAS BEEN DISQUALIFIED (sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) by the Elections Committee for “slating”.

So what happens now UBC? Are we left without a president? Well Blake has a 48 hours or so to appeal the decision and take the case to the Student Court where an appointed Justice will hear from both parties’ and their representatives. To quote RadicalBeer, “The burden of proof is now on Blake to demonstrate that there were errors in the judgment. This is notable as the candidate must do more than create a reasonable doubt, but explain why the actions of the [Elections Committee] were in error.” Oh hearings and pseudo legal systems, how I love thee.

On a side note, my election predictions on the VP/President positions were 80% correct, yay. Crystal Hon surprised everyone with an awesome campaign and beat the get-Tristan-Markle-reelected groupies.

It’s currently 4 in the morning (don’t ask why I’m up heh…) so I can’t be bothered to absorb the election code… but if Blake gets thrown out is there a chance that runner-up Alex Monegro would become president? If so, then EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. of International Business Club’s endorsees would have been voted into office. Either someone is good at calling the shots or we’ve got one hell of a new source of political influence on campus (the answer, fyi, is both). Next year’s candidates take note. No wonder the non-endorsees were complaining.

P.S. – Gateman’s “date night” (translation: econ midterm) was a massacre. I don’t think this relationship is working out…

P.P.S. – I was registering for an orientation interview today and the lady who checked my name paused and said, “Phoebe Yu… of UBC blog fame?” Thank you for making my day.