**1. Election Round 1**
The annual Missouri Students Association election is no stranger to scandal, but this year’s discombobulation takes the cake. The Board of Elections Commissioners — the people who make the rules — didn’t even start making them on time, causing Senate to suspend their rules to pass the election handbook so that the race could begin. This lack of responsiveness continued throughout the whole mess of an election. Cue two months worth of late-night Operations Committee meetings to try [to impeach BEC chairwoman Emma Henderson](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2016/1/27/after-msa-presidential-election-members-call-refor/) amid bribery accusations and [to annul the entire election or just the Gomez/Hanner slate](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2016/1/27/msa-committee-seeks-presidential-ouster/) when new evidence surfaced. Just a reminder: MSA is not “House of Cards,” in case you forgot.
**2. Haden Gomez’s foul play**
You know what they say: The proof is in the GroupMe screenshots. Though the BEC issued a major infraction over the endorsement sent out over a Pocket Points notification, there was little to no evidence this was coordinated. Despite the public knowledge of the infraction, Gomez and running mate Chris Hanner won the election. However, the day before they were set to take office, GroupMe messages revealed that Gomez and his team arranged the Pocket Points endorsement and sent mass text messages — both illegal actions according to the BEC election handbook. Better late than never, right?
**3. Senate Open Forum**
Full Senate actually didn’t have [trouble meeting quorum](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2016/4/4/msa-senate-possibly-implement-formal-attendance-po/) for once on Jan. 27. The normally sparse room was overflowing with MSA members, social justice advocates and personal opponents to Gomez who, to put it nicely, aired their concerns about the newly elected president for [over two hours](https://www.themaneater.com/blogs/campus/2016/1/27/live-blog-missouri-students-association-full-senat/). The night resulted in Gomez resigning, Hanner taking office for 10 minutes, Hanner appointing Payton Head as his VP, then Head taking over again once Hanner stepped down.
**4. Special Election**
Let’s try this again. After Gomez was booted out, MSA senators acted like Gretchen Wieners and Karen Smith when Regina George fell from grace — clueless on who to follow or what to do. Senators debated whether to appoint runners-up Syed Ejaz and Heather Parrie, but they gave the decision of who to lead the government back to the students. Luckily, the new slates in the shortened special election learned from their predecessors and were pretty well behaved, minus [a few minor incidents](https://www.themaneater.com/blogs/campus/2016/2/26/bec-issues-three-infractions-special-election-race/).
**5. Sean Earl and Tori Schafer’s victory**
Finally the kingdom is at ease. Sean Earl and Tori Schafer [won the special election](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2016/3/2/earlschafer-wins-msa-presidential-election-referen/). As the slate with the [most MSA experience](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2016/3/7/sean-earl-and-tori-schafer-share-their-journey-msa/), they have the institutional knowledge and connections that voters hope will give MSA the makeover it desperately needs.