Decision of the Elections Commission Regarding Student Advocate Candidate Ariana Thomas
Dated: April 3, 2026
Preface
On November 6, 2024, the ASUCI Judicial Board released Opinion on Investigative Authority in Elections-Related Cases, delineating the ASUCI Elections Commission’s procedural obligations into two broad categories — administrative and adjudicative. To quote the opinion:
Under its administrative capacity, the Elections Commission operates much like the Federal Elections Commission or its various analogues in the several states, making preliminary quasi-judicial decisions to enforce the elections procedures it has been charged to uphold and, if necessary, defending them in full courts of law.
The ASUCI Constitution presents us with a unique departure from this pattern, however, in that it delegates to the Elections Commission the position of a full judicial body. Whereas the aforementioned analogues to the Elections Commission may focus solely on their administrative capacities, outsourcing all judicial functions to distinct courts of law, the Elections Commission’s primary jurisdiction forces an ordering in such cases where these roles may contradict one another. (Bolek et al., 2024)
Following the revision of the ASUCI Elections Code on February 20, 2025, the Judicial Board added on March 15, 2025, that “[their] ruling in [Opinion on Investigative Authority in Elections-Related Cases] was found to remain in force” with the revisions.
In observing an explicit violation of the Elections Code, the Elections Commission has determined that an administrative approach would be most appropriate for the circumstances at hand.
Synopsis
On March 12, 2026, undergraduate student Ariana Thomas filed a Declaration of Candidacy for the position of Student Advocate, officially becoming a Candidate for ASUCI elected office. Per Art. VI § A of the Elections Code, “prior to filing a Declaration of Candidacy, all Candidates for ASUCI elected office must:
- Have paid the ASUCI fee for at least two (2) consecutive Quarters, not including the Summer Quarter, prior to the beginning of the Filing Period.
- Not be on University disciplinary probation and be in good standing with the University, as defined by the UCI Code of Student Conduct.
- Have a cumulative GPA of 2.7 or higher on a 4.0 scale; and shall have attained not less than two years since receiving a degree from a secondary school or an equivalent upon the beginning of the Fall Quarter for which they are elected.
- Consistent with Art. X § C(A, C) of the ASUCI Constitution, all candidates, in filing a valid declaration of candidacy, must consent to partial waiver of their rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) in order to confirm compliance with relevant requirements for office listed in this Section. All compliance review will be done by SGSM Professional Staff only and communicated, as needed, directly with the impacted candidate only.”
On April 1, 2026, Elections Commissioner Nicole Nowak was informed by Student Government Student Media (SGSM) professional staff that Student Advocate Candidate Ariana Thomas did not meet one of the qualifications listed in the aforementioned article of the Elections Code. To respect the privacy of Candidate Thomas, the specific qualification in question will not be published in this decision. After confirming with SGSM professional staff Candidate Thomas’s ineligibility to run for Student Advocate, pursuant to the Elections Commission’s authorities as an administrative body, the following decision is released.
The Elections Commission has deemed Student Advocate Candidate Ariana Thomas ineligible to run for Student Advocate for the 2026 ASUCI Spring General Elections and has levied a Level 5 sanction – Campaign Disqualification – on their campaign, disqualifying them from their respective race.