The Student Government University Court overruled an election board disqualification decision Wednesday.
Mass Communication Senator-Elect Allie Schroeder was originally disqualified Tuesday for not signing a financial document. Schroeder appealed her case to the University Court.
Schroeder, who was part of the Renew LSU ticket, won the senate seat with 54.27 percent of the vote in the runoff election. Her opponent, former University Center for Freshman Year Senator Tyler Loga, filed the initial complaint to the election board, which led to her disqualification.
Schroeder did not sign a financial document that is necessary to run for office. Her ticket’s presidential candidate, Bat Brunner, forged her signature the night before the document was due.
Schroeder said she was unaware the document was turned in and did not give Brunner her permission to sign her name.
SG Commissioner of Elections Amelia Burns said the technical mistake was worth the disqualification.
“[Schroeder] did win outright,” Burns said. “But if you’re not going to follow the rules … you’re going to get disqualified.”
Former SG Speaker Aaron Caffarel, who represented Schroeder, said the punishment was too severe because the forged signature had no impact on the outcome of the race.
“Allie didn’t sign the form. Did that have any impact on the race?” he said. “It had no bearing on the way people voted.”
Lindsay Hardiman, who also represented Schroeder, compared Schroeder’s punishment to the Your LSU ticket’s punishment. Your LSU violated three rules and received a private warning, a public censure and limit on where members could campaign. The last punishment was then appealed and lifted.
“Three violations and that’s all they got: a public censure. She didn’t sign a form and she’s [disqualified],” Hardiman said.
This was Schroeder’s first offense.
 
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Contact Danielle Kelley at [email protected]