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Becoming the next A.S. president, Student Voice! contender Harry Khanna will enter office riding a near sweep of executive positions by his slate. Overall, SV! won all but one campuswide race, in an election that also spelled defeat for the proposed student-activity hike.

Contender for vice president external Eddie Herrera was the only member of Daniel Watts’ Tritons United! slate to beat his opponents.

An Early Victory

For Watts, the night was filled with much suspense. Approximately an hour before the results were announced, he was found guilty by the A.S. elections committee of violating election rules, but allowed to stand for office in exchange for publicizing his offense.

The ruling came in response to a grievance, filed by Thurgood Marshall College Student Council Chair Denis Shmidt that accused Watts of violating an informal, but binding, agreement he made in response to previous charges made earlier in the week. The earlier grievance alleged that Watts libeled his opponent in a publication implying that Khanna had used student fees to purchase alcohol.

As part of the agreement, Watts promised to end his Tritons United! slate’s campaign four hours early, and take down campaign materials. Shmidt argued that Watts broke the deal by not taking down his slate’s Web site and Facebook group.

In its ruling, the committee ordered Watts and his slatemembers to stand on Library Walk, telling students about the violation, and, among other measures, to purchase ads with a similar message on Facebook.

Both Argued Against Disqualification

In his defense, Watts conceded that the Web site had been left up, but said it was not being used for active campaigning. The site was made by a third party, and Watts said he had been unable to contact that person to ask him to take it down.

Herrera also admitted he had not removed the Facebook group because he did not consider it to be an active part of the campaign.

If found guilty, Watts argued that the minor violation would not justify disqualification.

“We really, in good faith, tried to uphold this agreement,” Watts said. “Disqualification for leaving up a Facebook group would be really sad. I hope you consider other options.”

Shmidt similarly appealed for a less severe punishment. His responsibility, he said, was to bring a violation to the attention of the committee.

“Your main task today is to figure out what to do with it,” Shmidt said. “Personally, I wouldn’t go toward disqualification. I think disqualification is a last resort.”

However, Thurgood Marshall College Elections Manager Kate Pillon seemed skeptical.

“How would any of that affect the results of the election?” she asked Watts, in response to his suggestions in the ways the committee could make his slate publicly apologize.

Partial Truce

Initially, the committee was faced with a barrage of last-minute complaints.

The grievances marked an end to an informal truce — a pledge that neither would file formal charges except under extraordinary circumstances — committed to by Watts and Khanna prior to the start of campaigning.

Shmidt’s complaint echoed a similar filing by independent candidate for vice president external Matt Corrales, and both Khanna and Watts initially filed grievances of their own. Watts’ accused his opponent of a slew of campaign-rule violations, including early campaigning, violating spending limits and falsifying information filed with the elections committee. In response to Corrales’ charge, Watts also accused Corrales of campaigning ahead of the official deadline and of libel.

Khanna’s complaint again charged Watts with the libel — this time for a mass e-mail sent out by John Muir College alumnus Bryan Barton that called on students to back Watts — and was filed the day before the election ended; since Khanna was not the author of the original grievance, he was not party to the informal agreement signed by Watts to resolve the earlier libel charges.

Shortly before the hearings were set to begin, Watts, Corrales and Khanna announced that they would withdraw their complaints.

“In my three years at UCSD, I have never seen a campaign as dirty as the one run by Daniel Watts,” Khanna said in an emotional statement to the students gathered to see the hearing. “Student Voice! [Khanna’s slate] doesn’t want to put everyone through 48 hours of grievances.

Khanna accused Watts of filing his grievances as a “bargaining chip” to try to get Khanna to withdraw his complaint.

Emotions Flare

As candidates prepared for the hearings, A.S. Executive Assistant Christopher Terry said he had not even looked at the final election results, to avoid potential charges that they biased the committee’s decisions on the grievances.

“Once this is all over, we’ll make a spreadsheet and release everything,” he said.

John Muir College Elections Manager Pat Allen rejected requests to make public the results of the college-specific races not impacted by the grievances.

“Breaking the seal is breaking the seal,” he said.

However, there was some signs of restlessness among students waiting for the hearings, before Watts and Khanna made their agreement. TU!’s Herrera told friends he would resign his seat on the Marshall College Council.

“After this, I have no more confidence in Denis,” Herrera said, with tears visible in his eyes.

Fee Hike Fails

Though the results of the election had not yet been released, it was clear that the proposed $9-per-quarter increase in student activity fees would not pass. At the final count, only slightly more than 17 percent of the student body came out to the polls, short of the 20 percent floor needed for all fee increases.

For complete election coverage, pick up Monday’s issue of the Guardian.