The ASUC Judicial Council has found External Affairs Vice President-elect Safeena Mecklai not guilty of alleged bylaw violations due to a lack of sufficient evidence in an opinion released Tuesday.
CalSERVE Elections Coordinator Anais LaVoie filed five charges against Mecklai in April for distribution of campaign literature in residence halls, solicitation in the dining commons and explicit disobedience of residence hall staff directives.
LaVoie accused Mecklai of cheating, citing that the “margin of victory in her election can plausibly be enumerated as the number of votes gained through illegal campaigning.”
Four of the five petitions against Mecklai were dismissed by the council due to insufficient evidence and witness testimonies. The council then reviewed Mecklai in a hearing on May 2 for one charge of solicitation in the dining commons of a resident hall and evaluated an oral and written testimony from resident assistant Jasmine Verret.
According to the opinion, the written testimony from Verret cited Mecklai “not campaigning but definitely soliciting” multiple tables of students in Cafe 3.
However, while the written testimony suggested multiple incidents of solicitation, Verret’s oral testimony only referenced one specific incident, and the council therefore ruled that the witness’s collective testimony did not meet “the standard of clear and convincing evidence.”
The council chose to evaluate case evidence individually rather than holistically because four of the charges were dismissed before the hearing. Although the evidence presented appeared to “establish a pattern of intent,” the council ultimately ruled that the evidence against Mecklai was insufficient in charging her and found her not guilty on all five charges.
If the council had taken a holistic approach, the opinion states that there would have been “sufficient evidence and testimony to charge (Mecklai) with at least, but not limited to one censure.”
“While I’m disappointed that we lost the case by such a close ruling of 5 to 3, I’m confident that the act of pursuing elections violations this year will clean up elections in the future,” LaVoie said in an email.
Mecklai said she felt relieved by the results of the trial.
“I’m glad it’s over, and I’m trying to keep my head up,” Mecklai said. “I’ve always said that I’m not a partisan person, and I want to maintain that and not let this affect that going forward.”
LaVoie v Mecklai Official Judicial Council Direct Judgment (PDF)
LaVoie v Mecklai Official Judicial Council Direct Judgment (Text)
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