“We did increase our voter turnout,” Astraquillo said. “This could be for a variety of reasons, but it was partially because we did our job.”| Raphael Fernandez/The Cougar
During the final Student Government Association meeting of the 6oth administration, the Senate refused to pass a bill removing Cessabella Astraquillo from her duties as election commissioner.
The bill, which called for the removal of both Astraquillo and Associate Election Commissioner Omar Castanon, was introduced last week and comes after months of struggle between Astraquillo and SGA President Benjamin Rizk. Voting for the bill was evenly split, with six senators voting in favor and six senators voting against it. Two senators abstained from voting.
The bill, drafted by Rizk, claims that Astraquillo did not adequately perform her duties as election commissioner and failed to market the elections.
Before the meeting began, Astraquillo addressed the senate to provide her defense.
“We did increase our voter turnout,” Astraquillo said. “This could be for a variety of reasons, but it was partially because we did our job,”
Astraquillo also claimed that they made extensive efforts to raise awareness regarding the election — something that the bill alleged Astraquillo neglected. She said that she did not have access to the revised election code until the day of the candidate seminar, which Rizk criticized both in the bill and during the last senate meeting.
Astraquillo also presented various text messages showing how Rizk violated the SGA election code by frequently corresponding with the election commissioner via text message instead of email.
Ortega also commended Astraquillo for presenting her defense to the Senate, which she said provided more context to the bill. Ortega and five other senators voted against the bill. | Raphael Fernandez/The Cougar
The Senate took a 20-minute recess after Astraquillo addressed the Senate to confer their thoughts.
Before voting began, Rizk made his own address to the Senate, and he doubled down his arguments from the previous week’s meeting — specifically his claims that Astraquillo and Castanon targeted his campaign. He claimed that drafting the bill just days before the end of Astraquillo and Castanon’s tenure was necessary.
“At the end of the day, the vote is yours,” Rizk said. “I would not have not anything to make a fool out of myself unless I thought it was on the principle of what is right and just.”
Rizk’s brother and current senator, Alexander Rizk, interrupted Rizk’s address to voice his own complaints of Astraquillo’s performance.
“She never addressed why she never showed up to any of our Senate meetings. She says that she bought some t-shirts and flyers, but I think that is the bare minimum. She says she added to the student involvement. That is baloney,” Alexander said.
Sen. Anahi Ortega, the bill’s most prominent opponent, questioned its rushed nature and the little context Rizk provided within it. To Anahi, Rizk’s bill did not tell a full story of what transpired between him and Astraquillo.
“If he had gathered the full evidence and was able to put it in the bill, then I would have supported it,” Ortega said. “If the bill is half-done and pushed through, then I don’t think it’s right to go through with a formal removal. In a way, he didn’t do his job with the bill.”
Ortega also commended Astraquillo for presenting her defense to the Senate, which she said provided more context to the bill. Ortega and five other senators voted against the bill.
“I would say I was very caught off guard by some of the senators who voted no and abstained on the removal,” Rizk said.
