Two more students are now eligible to run in UMD SGA’s election after successful appeals

The SGA’s campaign roster for the 2017-18 academic year is now updated following a clerical error, successful student appeals and alterations to a few candidates’ eligibility.

Jonathan Allen, Leah Barteldes and Brandon Carroll have been added to the list of eligible Student Government Association candidates after a clerical error excluded them from the initial document released Wednesday afternoon. All are One Party candidates running as Leonardtown Community, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Off-Campus — Outlying representatives, respectively.

“They had nothing to do with the appeals process,” said SGA elections board chair Justin Edelman, adding that the list was updated soon after. “They had been cleared, and should have been on that list.”

Read More: UMD SGA announces parties and candidates for the 2017-18 school year

Tino Fragale and Jake Lubbehusen are also eligible to run as of Sunday after successfully appealing their denied requests, said Edelman, a senior finance and government and politics major. Fragale is seeking an Off-Campus — Outlying position on the One Party ticket, while Lubbehusen is running for Off-Campus — Neighboring under the Unity Party.

“The two successfully submitted [information] to the elections board that we didn’t previously have … and we were able to clear them,” Edelman said. There is sometimes “asymmetric” or missing information — such as a GPA or an updated major — that prevents initial eligibility clearance, he noted.

While the board cleared those two candidates, it also turned down two other appeals, and two additional students who were similarly denied eligibility chose not to appeal, Edelman said. Appeals were due Friday.

Edelman declined to give names and reasons for the denied appeals, stating that the elections board “decided we’re going to keep the information for those … private, because the candidates were never public.” There is no wording in the organization’s bylaws that requires a publicized explanation.

The board has also removed Tese Inegbenebor and Edom Mesfein, two unaffiliated candidates, from the list of eligible candidates. Chris Boretti, who is campaigning for student body president, and Daniel First, who is seeking an Off-Campus— Neighboring position, are the remaining two candidates not on the One Party or Unity Party tickets.

Edelman declined to speak on the specific reasons for their removal, but said candidates have to fulfill ongoing requirements, including meeting deadlines after the initial March 31 filing date, to maintain eligibility. Inegbenebor and Mesfein were running as Courtyards Community and Ellicott Community representatives, respectively.

Voting will run from April 19 to April 21, with an executive candidate debate pegged for Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Reckord Armory.