Three HUA Co-Presidential Tickets Suspended From Campaigning Hours Before Voting Closes

The HUA Election Commission suspended three co-presidential tickets from campaigning early Friday morning over what it described as repeated violations of election guidelines, according to an email obtained by The Crimson.

The three suspended tickets — Dillon A. Dukes ’28 and Ahmed T. Eldeeb ’27, Zachary “Zach” Berg ’28 and Daniel Zhao ’28, and Amira I. Abugararah ’28 and Jackson C. Sennott ’26-’27 — represent the largest group of candidates the body has pulled from campaigning in a single election cycle. The suspensions came roughly 24 hours before voting closes on Friday at 11:59 p.m.

The suspended tickets will remain on the ballot and can still be elected co-presidents. But they are barred from canvassing, hanging posters, and soliciting votes on social media.

The Commission told the candidates in the Friday email that each ticket had received a prior warning and cited “continued violations” as grounds for suspension.

An April 15 email to all tickets from the Election Commission described multiple complaints the body had received, including candidates removing and plastering over other campaigns’ posters, messaging student group chats, and cold calling and emailing undergraduates. Commission guidelines prohibit mass electronic communication and unauthorized distribution of printed materials, and require candidates to “engage in respectful campaigns.”

“The sheer number of complaints the Election Commission has received is staggering and incredibly frustrating,” Andrew Donahue, an adviser to the Commission, wrote in a separate Thursday email to candidates. “We have asked campaigns to be RESPECTFUL and CIVIL to one another.”

However, the Election Commission began reversing some of the suspensions Friday afternoon after meeting with candidates. The body lifted the suspension of Dukes and Eldeeb at approximately 3:30 p.m., and plans to lift Berg and Zhao’s suspension later Friday, according to Zhao. The suspension of Abugararah and Sennott remains in effect.

Zhao said the decision followed an appeal meeting with the Commission.

“We’ll continue to be confident in our campaign, and we’re happy that we could see eye-to-eye with the Election Commission,” Zhao said.

Sennott said he was unaware of the formal appeal process.

“We find it ironic that our campaign, which is the one about elevating students’ voices and giving students real power, is the campaign that’s not allowed to speak,” Sennott said.

“We do not know why we are the only ones that haven’t been lifted yet again,” he added. “We want an even playing field.”

The suspended candidates said they were initially given little explanation for the decision.

“We were surprised to learn of the decision to suspend our campaign during the voting period, particularly because we have made a clear and intentional effort to follow all campaign guidelines — especially after receiving the initial warning,” Dukes wrote in a statement.

He said the ticket had not been told what additional violations prompted the suspension and had asked the Commission for clarification.

Berg wrote that he and Zhao were “saddened to have our campaign suspended without any explanation of which specific rule we might have violated,” but remained “confident in our platform.”

Sennott pushed back on the suspension, saying he and Abugararah had not engaged in any mass electronic communication, unauthorized postering, or disparagement of opponents.

“We have led a very honest campaign,” he said.

Sennott said the only prior personal warning he received from the Commission did not concern a campaign rule, but rather his pledge to jump off the John W. Weeks Footbridge every day of the election period.

“While this is not a violation of election guidelines or policy, I am going to ask you to not continue this out of concern for your safety,” Donahue wrote to Sennott in an April 15 email.

Sennott said he plans to continue jumping anyway — not as a campaign stunt, but as a “community activity.” He invited other students to join him at the bridge Friday at 5 p.m., seven hours before the polls close.

—Staff writer Alma T. Barak can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at almabk.54. Follow her on X @almabk_.

—Staff writer Theresa F. Bartelme can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at theresabartelme.15. Follow her on X @theresabartelme.