Willett/Englert win MSA election after overturned expulsion

The Maneater: Latest Stories After being expelled from and then reinstated in the MSA presidential race Wednesday, Nathan Willett and Payton Englert won the election with 54 percent of the vote.The turnout was the largest in the history of the Missouri Students Association, with 8,548 students voting, according to the MSA Board of Elections Commissioners. The next closest was the election of Payton Head and Brenda Smith-Lezama in 2014, with 7,075 votes. The Enhance Mizzou student fee also passed, with 79 percent of the vote.
The BEC announced Wednesday morning that it was expelling Willett/Englert for “obstructing a free and fair election process.” BEC Vice Chairman Joe Sell said later during full Senate that the slate had been accused of filling out a ballot for another student.
Willett/Englert appealed the decision to the Student Court and won. Had the decision been upheld, Tori Schafer/Riley de Leon would have been the only slate remaining on the ballot. The third slate in the election, Josh Stockton/Shruti Gulati, dropped out of the election Saturday and endorsed Willett/Englert.
Students filled Leadership Auditorium on Wednesday night at full Senate before the Student Court released its decision. The open forum portion of the meeting lasted nearly two hours, with several students speaking in support of the Willett/Englert campaign. One student with a sign that said “Tori and Riley rigging the election like Hillary,” referring to U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, was escorted out of the meeting.
The Willett/Englert supporters who spoke during the open forum said the BEC’s expulsion of the slate was unjust because the board lacked evidence.
One student who was not a Willett/Englert supporter said the campaign was directed at predominantly white Greek organizations and called the situation “a big, petty mess.” Another student called them “snow tigers together,” a reference to the slate’s campaign slogan, “Tigers Together.”
Two nonwhite ...


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