In this case, the DSG Judiciary overturned the decision by the Board of Elections to disqualify Chen and Penukonda from the election for Vice-President of the Class of 2016. The Judiciary held that rules regarding qualification for DSG Senate and Executive offices do not apply to class council offices. Instead, only rules explicitly referring to class council apply.
Petitioners Mr. Chen and Mr. Penukonda both properly fulfilled the requirements to be placed on the ballot as candidates for Vice-President of the Class of 2016 class council. Initially notified that they would be placed on the ballot, the Board of Elections later disqualified the petitioners from the ballot because they were both planning to study abroad the following fall semester. The petitioners appealed to the Judiciary to overturn this disqualification so that they could both compete in the subsequent election.
The petitioners, Mr. Chen and Mr. Penukonda, were both candidates for the office of Vice President of the Class of 2016 Class Council. Both petitioners duly filed the requisite signatures in order to be placed on the ballot and were initially notified that they were both eligible. However, on April 5, 2014, the Board of Elections notified Mr. Chen that he had been ruled ineligible to run for the aforementioned position on the grounds that he was planning to study abroad in the fall of 2014, and thus would not be physically present at Duke University during the first semester of the Vice Presidential term. Mr. Penukonda, although not initially notified by the Board of Elections that he was disqualified, was also planning to study abroad in the fall of 2014. Mr. Chen and Mr. Penukonda petitioned the Judiciary to be reinstated on the ballot. The Judiciary issued an injunction on April 6, 2014, that allowed the petitioners to remain on the ballot pending decision of this case. This injunction was lifted following the issuance of this opinion The Board of Elections cited as support for their decision to disqualify the petitioners Article IX of the DSG Constitution and Title IV, Subsection A of the 2014 Duke Student Government Election By-Law. The Board of Elections argued that the petitioners would not be subject to the student activity fee during their time studying abroad and will not be “attending” Duke University for the fall of 2014 making them ineligible to run for office.
What eligibility requirements must be met to run for Class Council offices?
Application of the Power of the Judiciary The DSG Judiciary is authorized by the DSG Constitution to decide all “cases in which the DSG or an officer of the DSG in an official capacity is a party and cases arising between different DSG entities, including DSG affiliates.” As the Board of Elections is a body of DSG and the case concerned its official capacity.
On eligibility to run for Class Council offices The Election By-Law clearly distinguishes between Class Council offices and other DSG offices. Class Councils are in fact not an entity of the Duke Student Government but rather only DSG affiliates. Therefore, only the rules explicitly referring to Class Councils apply to Class Councils. In this case, the only eligibility requirement listed in the Election By-Law (Section 5, subsection 2) is that “Candidates for class offices must be a member of the class for which they are running.” The Judiciary finds no reason that studying abroad for a semester stops a student from being a member of their class.
Conclusion The Board of Elections inaccurately applied the Bill of Rights and Election By-Law when disqualifying the petitioners.