SBP election set for Friday after possibility of administration involvement

The student body president election will now be held on Friday.

Paul Kushner, chairperson of the Board of Elections, said the board decided on the schedule after the hold on the election was lifted Wednesday.

“We are going to stick by that timeline unless we hear otherwise from some other body,” Kushner said.

The UNC Student Supreme Court lifted the injunction after Travis Broadhurst requested his complaint be dismissed.

In a statement, Broadhurst said he decided to drop the complaint so the election process will come to an end.

“It has recently come to light that if this election cycle remains delayed, university administration is almost guaranteed to intervene, and administration’s interference in Student Government elections would threaten the very fabric of our 98-year-old student self-governance system,” he said.

Broadhurst said he stands by the principles of his complaint.

“While I maintain — and always will — that the Board of Elections violated the Student Code, this entire election cycle has dragged on far too long, and there are more important issues at stake,” Broadhurst said in the statement.

Maurice Grier and Elizabeth Adkins are the two candidates on the ballot. Kushner said there will also be a write-in option.

Voting will be held from 12 a.m. to 8 p.m. at studentlife.unc.edu.

The election was originally scheduled for Feb. 14. The election was halted because the BOE did not have enough members.

Joe Nail and Matthew McKnight were disqualified after several hearings.

Sammie Espada dropped out of the race and Broadhurst did not gain enough signatures to make the ballot.

Grier and Adkins gained enough signatures to make the ballot, but the election was once again halted after Broadhurst’s complaint. Complaints were also filed against Adkins and Grier.

Junior Ian Muriuki filed a complaint against Adkins, citing 12 violations.

Adkins was given one point, reducing her maximum budget by 5 percent.

Sophomore Will Hopping filed a complaint against Grier. The complaint included 19 violations.

Grier was given four points, reducing his maximum budget by 20 percent.

Hopping has appealed the decision, and asked for both cases to be re-heard and for Kushner and Luke Cullifer, student solicitor general, to be removed from office.

Evidence is still being gathered for the case.

“We need to end the drama,” Broadhurst said in his statement. “We need to have this election. We need to have a Student Body President.”

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