Wesley Ng/HIGHLANDER
Wesley Ng/HIGHLANDER

R’Voice will no longer run as an official party for the 2013 ASUCR spring elections, due to the disqualification of a party member over missing documentation.

Former R’Voice candidate Luis Morales did not submit his biography, which is a requirement for all running candidates and resulted in his ineligibility as an applicant. Following the news of Morales’s ineligibility, another member of R’Voice Johny Nguyen decided to withdraw his candidacy late-Saturday night.

Members of R’Voice were informed of this news on Friday, April 5—less than a week before candidate debates on the following Tuesday. Lacking the seven candidates required to form a political party, the remaining five members of R’Voice will appeal to keep their official party during the next ASUCR senate meeting April 10.

“We intend to campaign as an unofficial party of R’Voice,” said R’Voice co-director and party member Benjiman Roden, who held concerns about the future of his party.

“We plan to appeal to the senate to allow the six of us to be an official party, but I am doubtful that it will work. The senate is controlled by the party we are running against,” said Roden.

Five sitting senators, along with two directors and one member of the Executive Cabinet, are running in next week’s election. They are all members of the political party, [YOU]CR.

In response to the disbanded political party, Elections Director Harmony Chai explained the next steps for the party members. “They should run as independent candidates,” said Chai.

If the remaining five former R’Voice candidates choose to run independently, the total number of  independent candidates will increase to seven. Changes to the ASUCR Elections Code, made in fall 2012, require a minimum of seven members per political party; the website for the Elections Code has yet to be updated.

“We plan to challenge [the decision] at the next Senate meeting,” said Roden.