Grassroots to refer to electoral arbiter

WORDS BY EDEN FAITHFULL

In a statement released to Pulp, political faction Grassroots has announced that they plan to refer the Electoral Officer’s decision on nomination papers to electoral arbiter.

Grassroots was this evening excluded from the SRC race, and their Independent-ran co-brand Switch excluded from the NUS race, due to their nomination forms being handed in after the designated cut-off period. Grassroots Sydney will contest the decision of Electoral Officer (EO), Paulene Graham, to reject the Grassroots candidates’ nomination papers for the upcoming Students’ Representative Council election.

The statement claims that "the nominations had been lodged online and paid for by 4:15pm, and were handed to the EO as the clock turned to 4:30pm. However, the EO has made the decision that as the nominations were not ‘on the table’ at 4:30pm, they are invalid."

Grassroots also wish to make public that they disagree with "the EO’s decision, and believes that it is an undemocratic ruling."

"We believe that the nominations were ‘received by the EO’, as is stipulated in the SRC Regulations, at 4:30pm. The distinction between handing the ballots to the EO and placing them on the table is a trivial one, and is not made in the Regulations."

"Grassroots Sydney will refer this ruling to the electoral arbiter for a decision as soon as possible. Regardless of the outcome, we will continue to fight for students’ rights on campus as we have always done."

Keep your eyes peeled for more updates as this story continues to unfold.