VSG presidential and vice presidential candidates Hananeel Morinville and Ellie Kearns, both juniors, released a statement regarding a March 20 petition made by former VSG Vice President Ari Sasson, a senior, to disqualify them from the election. Kearns and Morinville published their statement on Instagram on March 25, one day after the VSG Judicial Court ruled to resume the election.

Controversy over the Morinville/Kearns ticket’s eligibility arose due to the fact that Kearns is currently studying abroad, which led Sasson to question whether VSG rules and procedures were being fairly upheld. In their statement, Kearns and Morinville clarified their eligibility, citing a bill that secured their spot on the ballot.

“The VSG Senate unanimously approved a bill that would allow Ellie to run from abroad,” the statement read. “Senators had plans to pass this bill before Spring Break and we were explicitly misinformed by the Elections Commissioner that our ticket would still be eligible even if the bill passed after Spring Break.”

Speaker of the Senate Marco Navarro Stanic, a junior, said in an email to The Hustler that while he received the resolution to allow candidates to run from abroad prior to spring break, it was not possible to vote on the motion until students returned to campus. 

“I received the resolution before the beginning of our campaigning season, but after our last session before break,” Navarro Stanic said. “Since we did not have any session during the break, the only possibility was to vote on it Tuesday, March 19, when campaigning had already started.”

Kearns’ and Morinville’s statement went on to explain why VSG elections were initially postponed on March 23. They expressed that such a suspension was implemented in response to errors made by the Elections Commissioner, as opposed to advancing their candidacy.

“When the judicial court took all of [the evidence that the Elections Commissioner violated the constitution] into consideration, they unanimously ruled that the campaign was unsalvageable…and the only way to hold a fair and impartial election was to suspend the current campaign period,” the statement reads. “Again, the suspension offered absolutely no advantage or disadvantage to candidates.”

Kearns and Morinville also alleged that misogyny played a role in Sasson’s petition to disqualify their candidacy, describing the petition as a “gendered issue.”

“This petition didn’t come in a vacuum,” the statement reads. “Whenever a woman — especially a woman of color — tries to lead campus, a contingency tries to suppress them. Despite attempts to stifle the change we know is possible, we refuse to let blatant negative campaigning and misogyny continue.”

Sasson did not immediately respond to The Hustler’s request to comment on the Morinville/Kearns statement.