Keith Wilbur, the senior student representative to Ohio University’s Board of Trustees, was disqualified from running as a Student Senate presidential candidate for the TIME ticket after senate’s Board of Elections found that he violated two campaign rules.
According to the board’s co-chair, Omar Kurdi, Wilbur campaigned without submitting a party declaration form. He also started campaigning before the board’s set date of March 31.
The decision to disqualify Wilbur was based on a unanimous vote by both the board and consolation with Ryan Lombardi, vice president for Student Affairs.
Lombardi did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
“The board seemed to already have their mind made up, and it appeared too they didn’t feel the need to listen to all of my points,” said Wilbur, who met privately with Kurdi and the rest of the board March 24 to discuss the accused violations.
Wilbur’s disqualification also delayed TIME’s campaign announcement by more than a day after he failed to notify his party members that they were disqualified as well. TIME’s party members appealed that decision, which was later overturned for them but not for Wilbur.
Marquis Maines, the current president of Epsilon Nu Tau, is now the ticket’s presidential candidate. The treasurer candidate on the ticket is Lorne Owens, the Senate Appropriations Commissioner for senate. The remaining candidates on the ticket will be announced Friday.
Senate’s Board of Elections must follow a rule, which states that decisions related to disqualification must be handed down within five days. The board did not adhere to that rule, Wilbur said.
According to Kurdi, the board noticed the disqualifying factors in the form of a written complaint on March 13, decided to disqualify him on March 17 and notified him of the decision on March 20.
The campaign rules state that a written complaint of an election violation must be submitted within five calendar days and the board must issue a decision within five days after that complaint was filed. However, nowhere in the rules does it say that the board must notify an individual of a decision within a specified amount of time.
“It’s very clear that the board violated the rules and they haven’t protected the process throughout this whole ordeal,” he said. “They really strung me out for about three or four weeks.”
Kurdi does not believe he or the other members of the board violated any senate rules.
“I carry the rules and procedures everywhere I go,” Kurdi said. “We’re not a policing body, but we are trying to run a fair and competitive election.”
Wilbur, a senior studying political science, economics and history, was previously an at-large senator under the VOICE ticket for Student Senate. He resigned from that position in 2013 after he claimed senate was moving in a negative direction, according to a previous Post report. For the past two years he has served as a student trustee.
Wilbur has appealed the board’s decision and asked for the removal of both board co-chairs Kurdi and Neti Gupta.
“I’ve appealed to Megan Marzec, I went ahead and sent an appeal in to her on Monday, I have heard nothing to this point from Student Senate or Megan Marzec,” he said.
As of Thursday evening, Student Senate President Megan Marzec says she hasn’t been notified of an appeal from Wilbur.
“In general the process hasn’t been protected and we have board members that are clearly partisan,” Wilbur said.
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