After being found guilty of three ethics violations by the Elections Board on Tuesday night, SGA presidential candidate Jared Hunter appealed the Board’s ruling on Wednesday in an attempt to reinstate his ability to campaign. 

In his appeal, Hunter also presented evidence that he says proves his claim that the Elections Board showed extreme bias in their Tuesday rulings against him.

Hunter’s appeal addressed the two major ethics violations and the one intermediate ethics violation that he was found guilty of by the Elections Board. Hunter presented his appeal to the Elections Board, SGA Judicial Board and various administrators in an email. According to the appeal, Hunter did not direct the appeal to any particular group due to “inconsistencies and unfair bias relationships in place during this SGA Election Cycle.”

Hunter’s appeal first refuted the Elections Board ruling that his campaign was guilty of a major ethical violation for providing a bar tab to those who were in attendance at his campaign kickoff event at Heat Pizza Bar on Friday, Feb. 24. The appeal stated that Hunter’s campaign is disputing the Elections Board’s verdict due to no campaign members having any involvement with the bar tab.

“It was a fraternity brother of Jared’s who took the purview to start it on his own for use by members of their fraternity after Jared specifically requested the tab not be opened,” the appeal stated. 

The campaign asserts that the fraternity member who opened the tab is a supporter of Jared’s, but is in no way associated with his campaign.

The appeal contested the Elections Board’s ruling that Hunter was guilty of a major ethical violation for omitting or falsifying evidence during his testimony to the Elections Board.

“To the campaign and Mr. Hunter’s knowledge, there was nothing that was misconstrued or omitted in the testimony,” the appeal stated. 

The campaign requested that the Elections Board specifically detail what Hunter lied about in his testimony.

Specifics about Hunter’s testimony were not the only evidence that Hunter’s campaign asked the Elections Board to produce. In an attempt to discredit the Board’s ruling that Hunter was guilty of an intermediate ethics violation for exceeding the $1,000 campaign budget limit, the campaign requested that the Elections Board provide proof that campaign funds were used to open the bar tab. The campaign informed the Elections Board that they have kept receipts from all campaign-related purchases and are willing to hand them over if needed.

The final issue of Hunter’s appeal did not concern any specific Elections Board ruling. Instead, it accused the Elections Board of maintaining biases that influenced their Tuesday rulings against him. 

The appeal stated that Hunter’s campaign believes that Keeli Mallory, the Chair of the Elections Board, colluded with Lillian Roth to swing the rulings of Elections Board in favor of Roth. It was noted that Mallory and Roth are both in the sorority Chi Omega.

Hunter’s campaign supported this allegation with a screenshot depicting an exchange between the members of the Chi Omega Executive Council GroupMe in which Roth, who is on the executive board said, “SWEET KEELI THANK YOU,” in response to one of the other executives sharing a link to the Elections Board’s violations report that was published on Tuesday night. This violations report contained the rulings that found Hunter’s campaign guilty of the three ethical violations.

“I don’t want to get into specifics of Jared Hunter’s appeal, but my one comment would be that Keeli Mallory and Mary Lee Caldwell are two of the most respectful people who I have met during my time at the capstone,” Roth told The Crimson White. “They have nothing but integrity and good intentions in their roles.”

The Hunter campaign brought attention to what it called “another possible bias in the SGA,” in its appeal by highlighting the link between Lillian Roth and Dr. Mary Lee Caldwell, a non-voting staff member of the Elections Board. The appeal stated that Roth and Caldwell have an “unprofessional, pre-existing relationship.”