Maryam Hassan has won the 2024 ASUO chairman election, the Daily Emerald reported. This comes after UO Student Power candidate Max Jensen suddenly withdrew from the race on Monday.
Mr. Hassan and his vice presidential candidate, Mr. Kikachi Akpaku, will be the next ASUO president and vice president for the 2024-25 academic year.
Jensen and running mate Maxwell Gullikson both dropped out of the race on Monday, said Ian Finn, campaign manager for UO Student Power. Finn said he intends to contest the non-presidential seat in the upcoming runoff election.
Grigory Malakhov, chairman of the ASUO electoral commission, confirmed to the Daily Emerald that Hassan and Akpaku won the run-off by default after Jensen and Gullikson abstained after the results were announced.
“The election results have already been processed,” Malakhov said. “Therefore, we cannot invite another candidate to the runoff.”
It was not immediately clear why Jensen and Gullikson withdrew from the race, but “personal reasons” were cited. The Daily Emerald is investigating all evidence regarding their reasoning.
OurUO and UO Student Power candidates have faced a series of tumultuous developments since the election began.
UO Student Power was suspended from campaigning on April 5 following complaints of improper placement of flyers and the publication of UO Students for Justice in support of justice in Palestine without the organization's consent. The campaign was partially suspended on April 6 after the commission received “new evidence” against SJP's claims.
Meanwhile, OurUO has come under fire after it was revealed that Hassan and Akpak attended a meeting sponsored by the Campus Victory Project. The Campus Victory Project is an organization that supports student government candidates with ties to Turning Point USA, a prominent far-right group.
Mr. Hassan and Mr. Akpaku have denied knowledge of the conference's affiliation with TPUSA, and an investigation by the ASUO Electoral Commission found no evidence that they received any funding from the organization.
Mr. Hassan and Mr. Akpak filed a complaint with the Electoral Commission alleging “harassment.” [of] Mr. Finn has denied the allegations, but filed a separate complaint accusing Mr. Hassan and Mr. Akpaku of using “manipulated/edited text messages” in their complaints.
Neither of these complaints, filed on April 5, have been adjudicated by the Election Commission.
Runoff voting for non-presidential elections will begin at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, April 10 and end at 9 a.m. on Thursday, April 11.
This story has been interrupted and will be updated.
