On Monday, May 21, the Associated Students of Portland State University elections board moved to dismiss presidential candidate Diamond Zerework due to campaign infractions, consequently delaying public release of election results. The results for the elections were originally scheduled to be released on May 22.
On Tuesday, May 22, the ASPSU judicial board overturned the elections board’s dismissal due to a violation with Oregon Public Meeting Law, reinstating Zerework as a candidate for ASPSU president. The elections board then held a second infractions hearing for Zerework, wherein she was found to remain eligible.
Jesse Hansen, chair of the elections board, highlighted the reason for the judicial board vote and the additional infractions hearing: “We didn’t act in accordance with Oregon meeting law during the hearing of Diamond’s infractions. [The judicial board] recommended we hold a new hearing where we act in accordance with the law,” Hansen said.
The problem, according to Hanson, was that Zerework was confused about her charges. “The judicial board was challenging the election board’s accordance with Oregon Public Meeting Law. We apparently had adjourned and reconvened without letting Diamond know,” Hansen explained. “She didn’t understand that she was having infractions filed against her.”
Zerework felt that the elections board acted in violation of official elections board conduct. “Infractions issued against me were heard randomly and immediately voted on without a fair accommodation process,” she said. “It was all fellow senators—members of ASPSU that filed every infraction against me, and there were a bunch of frivolous infractions filed against me; the vast majority of them were thrown out. One was chalking, another one was postering. But they ruled today that I did not file any frivolous infractions against everyone else. I only filed one, which was very valid and deserved to be investigated,” Zerework added.
The initial dismissal occurred due to four separate infractions filed against Zerework for acts committed during her campaign for ASPSU executive office. The infractions included publicly lying about obtaining official faculty and PSU resource campaign endorsements, a member of her campaign being suspiciously and illegally close to an official ASPSU polling station—specifically zero feet away, that she was campaigning in the library and for filing false infractions against other candidates. Other possible violations may have occurred, but the infractions were not pursued. An official public release from the ASPSU elections board states: “There were several other charges against Zerework that lacked overwhelming evidence, but the elections board elected not to pursue the claims.”
“It comes as no surprise that Diamond Zerework ha[d] been removed from the ballot,” said presidential candidate Ethan Allen Smith. “Zerework was relentlessly attacked by her fellow ASPSU officers…During the presidential debate, the unethical and repulsive behavior of our ASPSU officers was on full display, as they mocked, booed, yelled at and interrupted Sen. Zerework.”
In a message posted on Facebook, ASPSU senator Bearnard Kenyon wrote about Zerework’s candidacy eligibility: “We don’t know yet, it also depends on Diamond’s appeal. She could win in the judicial board meeting at 4 p.m. If she actually manages to win it will go to the senate. I’d say the odds are slightly in our favor that we have 3/4 of the senate willing to overrule the j-board (again, sigh) and throw her out of the race if they make a mistake and keep her. They will not be announcing anything until after the appeal in the senate (if she loses in the j-board, she will appeal to the senate AND WILL GO DOWN IN FLAMES) so we’ll know tomorrow night since there will be an appeal either way. If she is thrown out, we will never know if she actually won because the votes will not be counted, but rumor has it she did, baseless as rumor often is for what it’s worth.”
Kenyon did not respond to requests for comment prior to publication.
“I don’t condone the hateful comments in Bearnard’s message,” Tiffany Dollar, ASPSU president-elect, said when asked to comment. “I always support women in leadership positions, especially women from underrepresented communities, such as women of color,” she added.
“There has been a lot of dirty politics, everyone has picked sides,” Zerework said.