A second Student Government election violation has been filed against presidential candidate Josie Kelly, a junior majoring in agricultural and rural policy studies, and her running mate, Henry Rose, a junior majoring in agricultural studies, according to the StuGov general election website.
The new alleged violation cites Section 8.3 of the Election Code, which states that all members of the campaign teams must be current Iowa State University students and that knowingly having non-ISU students on a campaign team shall be considered malicious behavior.
The listing reflects the status as “Filed,” and a hearing date has not yet been announced.
Santiago Fajardo Cassab, a senior majoring in political science and the election commissioner, said the complaint is still in the preliminary stage of review.
“At this time, we have no hearing scheduled, and the status of Case 26-03 is simply that it has been filed,” Fajardo Cassab said. “The Violations Committee will be meeting as soon as possible to determine whether a hearing is appropriate and to carefully review the evidence submitted. We will make the time and place of a hearing public if one is scheduled. The Election Commission takes all complaints of suspected Election Code violations seriously.”
In a statement provided by the Kelly Rose campaign, they addressed the allegation.
“Our campaign is happy and proud to have Iowa State University students from various colleges across campus actively helping to create and support our campaign.
“Regarding the alleged violation, Henry simply misunderstood the question during the discussion. He mistakenly referenced a different school because he had previously met the individual in question when that person was enrolled at another institution. That student is currently enrolled at Iowa State University.
“Henry himself is a transfer student from a community college, which contributed to the confusion. He had originally met that individual while they were both enrolled at community colleges, and in answering the question, he was referencing that prior connection rather than the student’s current enrollment status at Iowa State.
“There was no intent to misrepresent any student’s affiliation. No campaign rules have been violated, and we respectfully request that this violation be overturned.”
The update comes as the pair’s previously reported endorsement-related voting moves forward in the review process. That complaint cites section 7.1 of the Election Code, which requires endorsements to be filed with and approved by the election commissioner before a slate or campaign can claim them.
According to the violation listing, a hearing for the section 7.1 complaints is scheduled for Feb. 15 at 6:30 p.m. on Zoom. The status of that complaint is listed as “Hearing.”
As of publication, no ruling has been issued regarding either complaint.
