The Campus Student Election Commission, CSEC, heard Spencer Haydary’s contest of the unofficial student trustee election results at its meeting Tuesday night.

Haydary, junior in LAS, said a campaign violation — a letter of endorsement from Student Body President Mitch Dickey — contributed to competitor Collin Schumock’s win on March 11. Schumock, junior in LAS, won the election by fewer than 130 votes, according to the unofficial election results.

Dickey’s letter was published by “The Daily Illini” as a letter to the editor on March 8.

Shawn Gordon, CSEC chair, said Haydary filed a contest stating any votes obtained because of the endorsement should be considered invalid. Haydary said the endorsement violated campaign bylaws and the constitution of the Illinois Student Senate.

“Since Mr. Dickey inexplicably stated in his Daily Illini endorsement of Mr. Schumock that he served as the student body president for the past two years, he invoked his title of student body president,” Haydary said.

In a previous interview with The Daily Illini, Dickey said the Illinois Student Senate bylaws cannot impede on a student’s first amendment rights; Dickey said he was speaking as an individual not as the student body president or a member of the student senate.

Schumock said he doesn’t believe Dickey did anything wrong in his endorsement but said regardless, it shouldn’t apply to the election results.

“Even if Mr. Dickey did break the rules, is this grounds to take action against me?” he asked.

Haydary also contested the election based on how Schumock’s fliers were hung and mentioned a defamatory statement that was spread through email.

However, Schumock said Haydary’s contest was submitted too late, according to CSEC rules.

The commission will discuss this further and potentially make a decision at their Thursday meeting. When the contest was announced, the CSEC aimed to make a decision on the election by March 28.

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