Max Jensen (right), a member of the Young Democratic Socialists of America, hands out flyers during a 2022 GTFF protest on campus. Jensen is running for ASUO president in the 2024 presidential election on the UO Student Power slate. (Will Geschke/Emerald)

It’s UO senior Grigorii Malakhov’s last term, and it was kicked off by likely the last election he will have to supervise as a member of the ASUO Elections Board. He wouldn’t be the first to admit this election has been unusually chaotic.

“It’s been breaking all morality, common sense, niceness,” Malakhov said. “It’s just totally out of control.”

At least nine grievances — ranging from allegations of harassment to animal cruelty — have been filed with the ASUO Elections Board since April 2, culminating in the board’s decision to suspend the UO Student Power slate from campaigning. The decision, announced the morning of April 5, was immediately controversial, arriving in the middle of ASUO’s election week and just three days before voting closes on April 8.

Alleged violations by UO Student Power, which were raised by members of other student slates, included the posting of flyers and posters in unauthorized areas on campus. UO Student Power also allegedly received and published the endorsement of UO Students for Justice in Palestine without their permission, which the slate disputes.

The morning of April 6, the Elections Board partially reversed its decision by allowing the slate to resume online campaigning, saying it had received “new evidence” that “can’t be dismissed.” Texts sent to the board as evidence that SJP had never made an endorsement were found to have been edited or deleted moments before the board made their decision.

“We were never supposed to be solving issues like this,” Malakhov said. “We’re here to facilitate the election and not deal with interpersonal fighting and gossiping.”

Ian Finn, a UO graduate student and campaign manager for UO Student Power, has been involved in a majority of the grievances filed thus far. He believes the Elections Board hasn’t done enough to make UO Student Power aware of the grievances against them.

“I would say it reeks of collusion,” Finn said. “We were never invited to talk to [the Elections Board]. We were never even informed of the allegations that our endorsement wasn’t approved.”

Finn accused the board of unfairness in its decision-making process. In other decisions made by the Elections Board, general warnings were issued to slates found in violation of the rules. But both Finn and Malakhov confirmed no warning was issued to UO Student Power before suspending their campaign.

In a conversation with the Daily Emerald, Malakhov confirmed that the decision to suspend UO Student Power was based on official and unofficial grievances. He also explained why the Elections Board issued other slates a warning for rules violations, but not UO Student Power.

“The reason why this time it happened without any kind of warning was because [the grievance] was beyond the normal … it all had to happen fast,” Malakhov said. “There is no rule saying that we should issue a warning first [before suspending a campaign].”

An April 6 statement from the UO Student Power campaign said that it “has not been given the same chance of other campaigns in this election” and accused the Elections Board of banning them based on “doctored evidence.”

Finn has filed at least four grievances against other student slates, including one alleging animal cruelty against a member of the Flock Forward slate — which was dismissed — and twoothers against members of the OurUO slate for failing to follow rules on prepackaged foods and campaign finance disclosures. OurUO’s finances, while having been found legitimate by the Elections Board, have led to a broader discussion about the slate’s other affiliations.

Yet Finn also faces grievances of his own. A grievance filed April 5 against Finn by Mariam Hassan and Kikachi Akpakwu — presidential and vice-presidential candidates for the OurUO slate — accuses him and the campaign of “violat[ing] election rules and the student code of conduct” by harassing UO SJP leaders. On April 6, Finn filed a separate grievance against Hassan and Akpakwu. These grievances are both still under review by the Elections Board.

“The Elections Board system might need to be changed or have more clarification and in-person meetings,” Maxwell Gullickson, UO Student Power’s vice presidential candidate, said. “It seems like they banned us [from campaigning] because of the flyers, but now they’re unbanning us for a different grievance.”

Gullickson said they were frustrated by the lack of communication on the Elections Board’s decision.

Malakhov encouraged students to de-escalate tensions over the election.

“What we need to remember is that we’re all students,” Malakhov said. “It’s not that deep.”

Cash Kowalski, a presidential candidate for the Flock Forward slate, declined to be interviewed for this article.

This story is breaking and will be updated.