Student Body President Bradley Opere tried to appoint provisional members of the UNC Board of Elections over the weekend but missed the window by months.
He needs to appoint at least four members to have a full board — as there is only one official member currently. Since Opere tried to appoint provisional members after the deadline, they were ruled invalid.
After the BOE tried to disqualify Joe Nail from the student body president elections, Nail appealed the decision to the UNC Student Supreme Court, citing that the board did not have enough members to hold a valid hearing. The Supreme Court put an injunction on the board and the student body president election until the BOE had the required members.
Paul Kushner, chairperson of the BOE, said the BOE will revisit Nail's case and set the timeline for the rest of the election once the injunction is lifted.
“That might be certifying signatures then and there, but it might be we wait for disciplinary proceedings to conclude,” Kushner said. “There is a lot of stuff it could be and that will just be determined when we get together.”
Tarik Woods, a member of the Rules and Judiciary committee of Student Congress, said Opere’s provisional members were ruled invalid by the Supreme Court because the appointments were not made within 21 days of the vacancy in the BOE.
Chief Justice of the Student Supreme Court Grayson Berger said he was unable to speak on the issue.
Woods said there have been vacancies in the BOE since at least the beginning of the 2016-17 school year. He said instead of provisional appointees, Opere must choose permanent appointees, who are then approved by Student Congress.
“He now has to make the actual recommendations to Congress, so we are not playing the role of confirming provisional appointees,” Woods said.
