A decision is still pending on whether the Student Government Association Student Judiciary will hold trial for recent allegations made towards the Elections Commission and Speaker Aaron Saunders.

Former Senators Steve Morin and Steve Castillo filed a judiciary case on Oct. 11, and as of today must be notified by the Student Judiciary as to whether the case is up for trial.

Eight days is allowed for the Student Judiciary as well as Attorney General Mike Marin to review the case and notify the petitioners of their decision. As of last yesterday, neither Morin or Castillo had been notified.

The case filed accuses the Elections Commission and Saunders of not following Title 8: Chapter 4 and Chapter 21 of the SGA Constitution. The Constitution states that there must be at least one Elections Commissioner and one Elections Assistant present at each polling station at all times.

The case filed was a copy of a case filed last year in which members of the SGA petitioned against the Elections Commission as well as former Speaker Jim Eltringham. The case went to trial and resulted in the termination of the Senate under the ruling that the Elections were unconstitutional.

The pending case has thus been called a “joke” by some members of the SGA and according to others, the consequences of the SGA’s prior actions.

The case has stirred up a variety of opinions on parties within the Senate as well as those from the outside.

“Everyone is entitled to feel how they want to and take it into the context that they want to,” Morin said. “It’s really mixed though, some people believe it’s the right thing to do, and other people feel that if the same argument that disbarred the elections last year and called them unconstitutional will do more damage than good; but that’s what they said last year.”

Other members of the SGA have different feelings on the situation, calling the case entirely different from last year’s case. Saunders explained that last year’s candidates and voters were affected by the outcome of the elections, but this year they were not.

“People see it as a joke. There is a big difference in the fact that candidates and voters were not affected this year,” Saunders said. “They want to stir things up and get our focus away from students, and I don’t have any interest in playing that game.”

Morin disagreed, stating that it’s not about getting revenge with the SGA over last years decision, but following the rules.

“If rules are going to be created and filed, then the rules should be followed for the reasons that they were created,” Morin said. “I don’t believe it’s a way of getting revenge or targeting the leadership, principally the same body and leadership aren’t in the SGA anymore. Two members of the SGA Coordinating Council couldn’t vote to ratify the elections, and that goes to the fact that people had issues with the elections.”

SGA President John Sheehan responded to the allegations stating that he was in shock over the fact that a case was filed. Sheehan continued by explaining that the SGA did the best they could under the circumstances at the time of elections.

Chancellor of Elections Sam Blasiak expressed to the Senate that he was to blame for the problems.

“I’m more than happy to take responsibility, after all it is my responsibility,” Blasiak said.

Senator Brian Thompson expressed his thoughts on the case by explaining that he was happy someone took the initiative to look into the situation.

“I’m glad that someone has taken the initiative to look into the leadership’s actions, and I hope that [the Judiciary] hears the case. I’ll be interested to see what the Senate has to say about it, but I don’t think it will affect any of the business we do here.”

The Student Judiciary has yet to make any decisions regarding the case as of press time, however a decision must be made today or the case will not be heard.

“As of now, no one has tried to contact me to my knowledge, but if the case is brought to trial or not I’d hope that the Student Judiciary would notify me because they haven’t yet,” Morin said. “The University has my number and address, so they can contact me.”