Student Government Association presidential contender Sen. Dan Saleem (CCAS-U) will remain on the election ballot next week after pleading guilty to a quartet of campaign violations Friday.
The Joint Elections Commission at a hearing Friday dropped one of the four charges of premature campaigning because one endorsement signature Saleem collected prior to the campaign period came from a senator who had registered as his representative. The dropped charge clears the way for Saleem to appear on the SGA ballot.
The commission on Thursday charged Saleem with five counts — six penalty points of campaign violations — one for each of the four endorsement signatures that he collected from the president and vice presidents of GW Desis and GWU Esports before the campaign period. The JEC also charged him on one count for using SGA space to campaign, which accounts for two penalty points.
Conviction in all five charges — which would have given Saleem six penalty points — would have resulted in Saleem’s disqualification from the election. But since the signature of the vice president of GW Desis was one of Saleem’s “authorized agents,” the JEC dismissed the charge at the hearing to deliberate his violations Friday.
The JEC did find Saleem guilty of using any “resource of the University” to campaign, a violation of SGA campaign rules, after the complaint filed by sophomore Ben Glauner found Saleem’s endorsement documents in the SGA’s office in the University Student Center.
Saleem’s remaining five penalty points will appear next to his name on the official ballot, per the ruling. The plea agreement states that Saleem recognizes his wrongdoing in collecting premature endorsements from the pair of student groups.
Saleem said at the hearing that he pleaded guilty because he violated the election rules. He said he is committed to “rereading the bylaws” to ensure that he does not further violate the rules in the future.
“The rules are there for a reason to make sure that everyone gets a fair shot at getting elected,” Saleem said. “I think this agreement is fair and sends the right message that when you break the rules, there are consequences.”
JEC Executive Commissioner Fatima Konte said the JEC’s ruling in Saleem’s favor was a “difficult decision” but that the commission issued the verdict for the “sake of the election” due to its imminent timeframe and considerations for the other candidates.
“Literally only did it for the sake of the other candidates,” Konte said. “Please keep that in mind. Whether it’s you, whether it’s another candidate, whether it’s an authorized agent, the bylaws are there for a reason.”
Konte said during the hearing that the JEC is also aware of Saleem “tampering” with evidence on Thursday when he attempted to dismiss the charges. Konte said in an interview that the JEC could tell the endorsement documents that Saleem presented to the commission on Thursday were “altered” compared to the documents that were included in Glauner’s original complaint.
She said at the hearing the commission will not recommend that the JEC’s chief investigator examine the allegation in order to proceed with next week’s elections.
