SGA
The SGA judicial branch voted 3-2 to convict presidential candidate Michael Harding and vice presidential candidate Craig Premjee of establishing an illegal polling location, but unanimously ruled 5-0 late Thursday night that the 24-hour campaigning suspension was time served; both candidates remain eligible for election.
Earlier in the day, the SGA election committee ruled that Harding was disqualified for committing a class three violation — the most serious violation — by soliciting votes through Premjee’s iPhone at The Den on Wednesday. Harding appealed the ruling, and it was taken to the judicial branch for deliberations. This was the inaugural case for the justices.
Daily Cougar opinion editor Andrew Taylor filed a formal written complaint with the elections committee Thursday morning after witnessing Premjee use his iPhone to steer students to vote for his party.
Joeanthony Leyva, economics senior, was the witness who used Premjee’s phone to cast his vote — a direct violation of Article 7, section 4, clause 1 of the elections code.
The Daily Cougar’s editor-in-chief, Jack Wehman, previously conducted interviews with Leyva, Harding and Premjee, which were later used as evidence during the hearing.
Both Taylor and Wehman were called to testify and were cross-examined, as were Harding and Premjee.
Chief Election Commissioner Katie Kornahrens was also called to the stand and explained how the elections committee came to the original decision for disqualification. She stated that both candidates were aware of the election code before the campaign started, and this knowledge made the offense deliberate.
Polls closed at midnight Thursday; the official runoff election results will be announced today. The elections code may be found at http://sga.uh.edu/index.php/election-center.html.
I'm sorry but "skates by"? isn't there an opinion section for blatant and obvious bias like that?
I AGREE! Daily Cougar is so annoying…
your annoying
YOU'RE* annoying.
No its not biased, its because the commission had declared them disqualified so when they appealed to the court they were only one vote away from disqualification for good…
if you're looking for biases, turn to the judicial branch of our student government. A good portion of the judicial branch was just sworn into office less than a month ago. How did this go from a disqualification trial to a unanimous decision that the 24 hour suspension was time served. That doesn't seem right.
what are you even talking about? what you described – reviewing decisions, i.e. going from a disqualification to time served, is pretty much the very definition of an appellate process.
Time served? Its clearly written in the code what should happen to these people. I agree with Coogie. Apparently, it pays to cheat.
i graduate in may, but if i was coming back i'd rather transfer from uh then be here and be represented by cheaters like harding and premjee
and i wouldn't mind if you transfer because it's sad you're about to graduate and you're too brain deficient to know the proper use of then/than.
Hey, Daily Cougar, you want to hear about some real cheating? After the story I read yesterday, I decided to vote (for the first time in the three years at UH) for the NON CHEATING guys (I don't even know who they are). So I go to log on, and it turns out that I already voted! For Michael Harding and Craig Premjee! I was really confused, so I asked some friends of mine if they've had any problems. One of them asked me: "Did you sign a petition to increase parking spaces?" I did. With my peoplesoft ID and email. The "petition" was just an excuse to get people's information to vote for them! I'm not the only one this has happened to. Many of my fellow dorm mates said the same thing happened to them. So Wednesday wasn't even their worst cheat! Please look into the "parking petition" that many people signed!
You also need your birth date to vote…did you put that on?
yep. Everything. I thought they needed it to make sure that the people signing it were students.
file a complaint. I think they need a paper complaint.
You're stupid. Why would you give ANYONE your peoplesoft # and birthdate…..
If you have signed this "petition," the Election Commission urges you to file a formal complaint – the form can be found on our website. (www.sga.uh.edu under the Election tab)
To prove it, we would need sworn statements from these students you say also signed it. One student isn't enough to prove your case, and the burden of proof is on the accuser. This would be a disqualifiable offense if proven.
Even though voting is over, the commission can receive complaints for 15 days following the end of the election. All complaints at this point will be dealt with directly by The Judicial Branch, as stated in the election code.
They should disqualify them…but who did end up winning?
Don't people realize everyone in the election cheated? So many complaints were filed agaisnt Mcugh and Harding. Sham….entire thing
McHugh here, yes, people filed complaints against me, but they were baseless and not true. People made them up against me in a desperate attempt to win. I was never convicted of anything, nor were any of my party members. There never was any 'evidence' against me either. I never got convicted because I never broke the rules.
^^^^ mike mchugh… the only candidate that felt the need to state he has integrity and honesty during the debate. hmmmmmm…..
mchugh – so corrupt he feels the need to defend his honesty
harding – too stupid to know what honesty even is
gogets – goes without saying he's an honest person
current sga – what's honesty????
@Coogtastic, YES, I will defend my honesty when people try to say otherwise as I am not corrupt and I will not let baseless claims like those stand.
strangely enough I agree with mchugh..
i followed the election/runoff closely and all the files for mchugh were either thrown away or dismissed immediately because they were heresay
ON THE OTHER HAND… we have idiotic harding/premjee who had it in the bag but desperately felt the need to cheat. idiots.
for my senior year, i will be wasting my time next year trying to make everyone remember they voted for an alcoholic and a cheater for sga.. major fail.
You can't be 'convicted' by a 'Kangaroo court' not recognized by The State of Texas or U.S. Federal Law.
Should any 'Kangaroo court' convict you of anything you can bring an action in a proper court of law for harm …against the people and/or entity who attempted to harm you.
Civil Rights refer to the first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution of The United States also know as The Bill of Rights.
Even the existence of a 'Kangaroo court' is a violation of those civil rights.
That is the lesson that should be learned.
::
GP
You're supposed to be an unbiased news source for students. This article is completely biased and set against one candidate and for the other. Andrew Taylor is a little McHugh Follower so I'm not surprised the Daily Cougar SuperStar Team would be against Harding. If you're going to be journalists then do your job and do it in an objective manner. This is why you have an opinion section and it's SEPARATE from everything else.
The most disappointing part of this whole situation is that the Daily Cougar is OBVIOUSLY BIAS. If you read the past articles that they have published about Harding and Primjee, you can tell that they never favored the candidates even before the CLAIMS were made. The Editor-and-chief of the organization and an opinion section writer, who works for the Daily Cougar, were the individuals accusing Harding and Premjee. This fact alone makes these individuals bias, and even if they are not writing every article i'm sure they have a strong influence in certain situations.
When articles of this quality are printed it reflects on the motives, validity, and integrity of the individuals who are writing these and other stories.
harding and premjee should transfer to texas tech where they belong
I don't think its biased just because the editor in chief is one of the people who went against harding/premjee during the trial. they did personally know the person who premjee asked to vote. Harding/Premjee are not competent enough to serve 38,000 students. I am well damned because these two won but I think its better than having McHugh win.
Harding is someone who shakes hands and kisses babies.. but thats all he's good for. As far as a student leader, he offers completely nothing. I've done my research on what he's done with sga and mvp.. and guess what i came up with… NOTHING. congratulations UH… you voted for this idiot.
I think these two idiots found a great way to start their administration… we have an alcoholic and a cheater.
You'll find that Michael McHugh is in Washington D.C. discussing drug policy with senators and representatives at a conference. You’ll also find that Jared Gogets just returned from Austin after joining Chancellor Khator to discuss budget cuts, concealed handgun laws and national research university fund issues with state reps and senators. Where are Michael Harding and Craig Premjee?McHugh is the in DC area looking out for UH. Gogets is doing the same in Austin and is becoming more of an influential person within SGA than Harding and he doesn’t even hold a position in the organization! Our president-elect is a disgrace and incapable of leading. The sad part is, I believe the majority of students would rather Michael Harding and Craig Premjee stay out of UH’s political affairs because they would surely screw them up. Senators and reps surely do not want to meet with cheaters, liars and alcoholics. Regardless though, it is RIDICULOUS that Harding and Premjee treat spring break like a vacation just like any other student does. You are in SGA now guys – you are held to a HIGHER standard. Stop drinking, partying, lying and cheating and start doing some god damn work!